Secrets Told
by MetalPrincess13
Summary: It's hard enough to come out to those close to you, but try having your sister blurt it out to everyone for you. Gary/Tracey, slight one-sided Palletshipping. Complete!
1. Discovery

**Secrets Told**

Just a fairly quick little something I got a random idea for.

Summary: May Oak was sworn to utter silence when she found out the secret about her brother and Tracey but she just couldn't resist telling her grandfather. How's Gary going to handle this one?

Rated T for safety I guess.

Disclaimer – I own the storyline, my interpretation of the characters, and nothing else.

Chapter One: Discovery

She had always known there was something about her brother that didn't quite add up. Honestly, the boy was nineteen and he'd never had a girlfriend; he'd never even been on a date with a girl, nor had he ever had a one night stand with a girl. At least, if he had he'd never told her and May Oak liked to think that her little brother told her everything. Her grandfather had suggested that perhaps Gary was simply nervous or shy with girls and May had to scoff at that – nervous and shy were not words anyone would use to describe that arrogant and spoiled little brat that was her beloved brother. And it wasn't as though he had never had a chance with a girl; how many times had her friends flirted with and fawned over Gary? How many times had they paraded past him in short skirts, skimpy tops, or little bikinis? The answer to both questions was simple: often. After all, her friends absolutely adored the handsome little smartass.

Here were some good questions though: how come her brother never acted on any of the blatant sexual advances; why did he turn down every offer the pretty girls gave him? Why was it he was never the slightest bit fazed whenever he saw the girls in their sexy outfits when many boys would turn scarlet and lose speaking capabilities? One would think he would at least manage a feeble erection whenever one of the girls bent down in front of him to give a glimpse up a skirt or down a shirt that left little to the imagination.

There were three questions that had always been at the back of May's sharp mind. Why did her brother's pretty brown eyes seem to follow her grandfather's lab assistant wherever Tracey went, especially when he happened to be shirtless? Why was it the two boys always seemed to disappear from the face of the planet at the exact same time? And why was it the two seemed to spend every free moment hanging out together?

Ever since Gary had moved home about three years ago to work in the Oak Laboratory, May had noticed the friendship that bloomed practically instantly between the two young researchers. She's also noticed that as-of-yet unexplained depression her brother had gone through for nearly a year after being home for only a few short months, despite Gary's efforts to cover it up. Then she'd noticed the way that depression suddenly dissipated and was replaced with a strange sort of contentment that happened to coincide with a similar happiness that Tracey seemed to be experiencing.

Now though, now everything made sense. Now that she was seeing a certain action taking place before her eyes, things were as clear as the fancy crystal wine glasses downstairs in the kitchen.

Why she had come upstairs she couldn't remember – maybe it was to grab a towel for the pool from the linen closet, maybe it was to grab her sunglasses from her bedroom – it didn't really matter. All thought had been erased from her head as she came across the sight of Gary and Tracey kissing in the hallway outside Gary's bedroom door, totally oblivious to their company. May's bright eyes widened dramatically and she couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. They looked so sweet together, she thought, with the way Gary was leaning against the wall behind him with his hands lightly cupping the other boy's face as they kissed. Tracey's hands were resting on Gary's hips, fingers slipping slightly beneath the fabric of the taller teen's shirt. The kiss broke and Gary's hands moved to Tracey's shoulders, slowly trailing up and down his back as he rested his head against Tracey's shoulder.

Well, this was truly the nail in the coffin for May. Her brother was definitely gay and was obviously romantic with their grandfather's lab assistant.

She could help but squeal excitedly at this realization – she knew she had been right all along!

Gary's head snapped up from his boyfriend's shoulder at the squeal his sister issued. "May!" Everything about him screamed shock, anger, and embarrassment as May pounced on the two of them with cheerful hugs and exclamations. Gary finally sighed and gently pushed Tracey away, muttering something about seeing him in the lab later on, before leading his sister into his bedroom. "You know _nothing_; got it?" he said as he closed the door behind them.

"But, Gary," she whined in response. She so desperately wanted to go tell all of her friends and her grandfather.

"No, May! You can't tell anyone about this – Grandpa can't know, your friends can't know, Delia can't know, Ash sure as _hell_ can't know about this! So you keep your mouth shut about it!"

"You mean I can't tell anyone?" May squeaked in disappointment.

"That's exactly what I mean."

"Not even Grandpa?"

"No."

"Not even Amanda?"

Gary groaned at the reference to his sister's big-mouthed best friend. "You cannot tell any living organism, May! If it is made up of living cells, contains some sort of genetic material, or undergoes any sort of," he visibly struggled for words. "Biological function then you can't tell it!"

May grinned at his exasperated outburst. "So I can't even tell –"

"I don't care if the most complicated thing it's capable of is photosynthesizing! You can't tell anyone or anything! Promise?"

Her grin widened, it was so easy to tell that Gary was a scientist of some sort. "You're a geek, you know that?"

"May…"

"Ok, I promise," she said grudgingly.

"Good," Gary flung open his bedroom door and held it for his older sister.

May grinned, if possible, wider and pranced out of the room. She turned back to face him as she stood in the hallway. "Does this mean you'll go shopping with me?"

"No!" Gary closed the door sharply behind him and stalked across the room to sink into his desk chair. His sister was a smart young woman but she could be a ditz, that was for sure. She could be a blabbermouth as well, which worried him. "Dammit!" He hissed through clenched teeth and hit his hand against the desk he was sitting at, wincing as it stung. He knew she would tell everyone she possibly could by the end of the day. There was no avoiding it.

--- --- ---


	2. History

**Secrets Told**

Chapter Two: History

Tracey wandered back towards the lab, truly in no hurry to return to his work on updating the Pokedex files for the Kanto Region. He wasn't worried in the slightest about May catching him and Gary in a… compromising position. It was no secret that he was gay; he wasn't in-your-face about it, he just didn't hide it and Professor Oak and most other people seemed to accept it with no problem. Gary on the other hand; well, he was a different story entirely. He had come home after spending about two years working at the research institute on Sayda Island and Tracey was certain that the then-sixteen year old was just not into girls.

There was something in the way he laughed off the flirty advances of May's promiscuous friends or the way the scanty clothing of the young women had no effect on the young Oak that told Tracey he wasn't the only one in Pallet who was unfazed by the girls. There was also something in the depths of Gary's eyes that told him the boy had yet to come to terms with his sexuality. May and the professor hadn't understood the depressed phase Gary had gone through at seventeen but Tracey had figured out the reasoning quickly. It wasn't difficult, not with the way Gary would flat out ignore the females around him or the way his eyes would narrow whenever May tried to hook him up with a friend. They had hit it off early as friends and Gary had eventually come to him for support that was gladly given and Tracey soon found himself falling for the brunette. Months later the younger of the two teens had come to terms with it and Tracey had managed to say the right thing at the right time. Their lips had hesitantly met and the first kiss had turned to one where he could practically _taste_ Gary's desperation; they'd stopped before they could do anything either boy would regret but the 'damage' had been done. They had both gotten a taste of something they wanted more of – each other.

After a few days of awkward avoidance, they had sat down and talked. Most people would think that this conversation was the one that had led to the start of their relationship but that wasn't the case. In fact, the two had verbally and vehemently denied romantic feelings towards each other and had decided aloud that the reason behind the kiss was simply hormonal. They'd even said it wouldn't happen again but that obviously wasn't the case. They somehow managed nearly two months without anymore experiences but push eventually came to shove – meaning they both got drunk at May's twenty-first birthday party and ended up making out and groping behind locked doors in Gary's bedroom.

They couldn't deny it anymore after that. After some hefty doses of aspirin and some hours of recovery the next day, Gary had confronted Tracey about what was going on between them, stating simply that there were strong feelings between the two. Emboldened by Gary's straightforward approach, Tracey had been the one to bring up the aspect of a relationship. That had been over a year prior and, despite the strong, loving, and supportive relationship the two shared, Gary had shown no signs of being ready to be open about it. Tracey knew that nothing bad could happen family-wise but he couldn't speak for Gary's friends in Pallet – Pallet was a small and fairly conservative town and 'alternative lifestyles' weren't exactly highly welcomed. Granted it stung deeply to know that his boyfriend could whisper sweet words in his ear behind closed doors while pretending to have nothing more than a friendly relationship when around others, but Tracey understood and supported him no matter what. After all, isn't that what love was?

Tracey sighed as he reached the lab door. He knew May would tell Professor Oak at some point today, perhaps even within the hour – the girl couldn't keep a secret if her life depended on it. He pushed his worries out of his head as he turned the door handle and entered the vast laboratory, crossing the white tiles towards the desk that was his. He sat down and began typing up the files he had been working on; he wasn't sure how long he had been working when the door opened again and May entered, still wearing her bikini and matching sarong from earlier with her expensive sunglasses resting atop her head. Tracey felt a sinking feeling in his gut as the young woman crossed the lab to her grandfather with a wide grin on her face.

He certainly hoped that May wasn't too fond of that pale blue bathing suit she was wearing because it was going to be covered in blood stains when Gary got his hands on his elder sister.

He listened as May excitedly spilled the beans to the professor and was so busy trying to figure out how to keep this from getting to his boyfriend that he didn't even notice the fourth person in the lab until he heard the door slam closed. Tracey looked up to see his boss staring at that door where his grandson had obviously just left.

"I'm assuming that's all the clarification I need," the professor sighed wearily. May smiled sheepishly at her grandfather. "I take it he made you promise not to tell?" May nodded slowly, her smile fading from her face as her grandfather sighed once more. "May, I think we need to have a bit of a talk on keeping your promises."

Tracey couldn't help but smile a bit as he watched the professor and the young woman disappeared into his office to have a serious chat. May had been in dire need of someone telling her to stay out of her little brother's business.

--- --- ---


	3. Admittance

**Secrets Told**

Chapter Three: Admittance 

Samuel Oak thought himself to be rather good at reading the moods of those around him. He knew he was particularly good at telling when his youngest grandchild was in a sour mood. It wasn't particularly hard; slamming doors tended to be a sure sign of anger, as was the loud music emanating from behind the closed bedroom door. Behind the door, his grandson was most certainly cleaning his room – something he seemed to do in anger just to give the teen something constructive to do. Not that Gary was particularly messy and needed to clean up; whenever he was peeved about something his room just happened to go from reasonably tidy to immaculate. No doubt the room would be spotless by the end of the night, not that Professor Oak could blame him for being angry this time. He had tried to teach his grandchildren the importance of honesty and keeping promises from a young age but May's childlike personality made it difficult for her to stay quiet about things that excited her and Gary's generally secretive manner often made it difficult to tell what was going on.

He wasn't upset about May's excited claims. Well, actually he was, but he was upset with his granddaughter not with his grandson, which was exactly why he was currently standing outside of Gary's bedroom.

He found it a bit hard to believe, despite the fact that it made sense now. It was odd though, he couldn't help thinking that thought. His grandson… was involved with another boy. Gary; tall, athletic, sarcastic Gary who enjoyed going surfing with his friends at the nearby beach as much as he enjoyed working with the pokemon and reading books; was gay.

It was just a bit strange. Gary wasn't like Tracey or like the stereotypical gay boys. Tracey was into art and drawing, while art for Gary usually meant a horror novel with some sort of heavy metal band playing in the background. May had a few gay friends who enjoyed shopping with her and watching girly movies with her while Gary avoided the mall at all costs. Not to mention the last time the two siblings had gone out to the movies together – May had come home in tears because her insufferable little brother had tricked her into seeing a gory zombie film while Gary ended up with a nice long lecture on being nice to his sister. While May's friends seemed to have an issue with getting their hands dirty, Gary had no qualms about working outside with the pokemon and getting sweaty and dirty. Though less insane than Ash, he was almost willing to get scratched and bruised all in the name of pokemon. Tracey was sweet and polite, not to mention calm and patient but Gary was the exact opposite at times. He was as impatient as they came, though he had learned to be a bit patient in spite of himself over the past few years of researching. He had it in him to be polite but that sarcasm seemed to boil up at inopportune times, along with his arrogance and his self-absorbed nature. Despite the calm exterior, Samuel knew his grandson hated to be stuck in one place doing one thing for an extended period of time. Everyone could be perfectly happy with things being the same day in and day out but not Gary. No, he had to go out and do things just for the hell of it which, in the past year or so, had resulted in a fractured wrist, three dangerous encounters with venomous creatures, and a grand total of twenty-seven stitches. He was an adventurer at heart and somehow managed to sustain more injuries working in a laboratory and on the ranch than he had as a traveling trainer.

He confused his dear grandfather thoroughly at times.

Now was one of those times.

Professor Oak slowly opened the bedroom door, not bothering to knock, knowing full well that his knock would be drowned out by music. Sure enough, within the past half hour Gary had managed to straighten up most of his room but still appeared angry.

"Ah, I see we're in the middle of a hissy fit," he said calmly, smiling warmly as he closed the door behind him. He had to force down a grimace at this afternoon's music of choice – he just didn't see fast drums, loud guitar, and screaming as a becoming choice for a young researcher. It was a pity Tracey's taste hadn't worn off on the boy; the professor much preferred the tunes of Tracey's Boston and Journey albums over Gary's… well, whatever the impossible-to-pronounce Scandinavian band it was this time.

Across the room, his grandson shook his head, most likely uttering a sigh or curse that was lost in the music. Knowing how much his grandfather couldn't stand the music being played, Gary quickly lowered the volume and continued to ignore him.

"I know you're angry with your sister but reorganizing the bookshelf is going a bit far, Gary." The professor's eyes lingered on the tall bookshelves that were filled with novels, textbooks, cds, movies, and whatever else Gary had managed to squeeze onto the shelves between now and the last time he had been in a particularly bad mood. "Okay, I can see that obviously wasn't the best approach," he muttered as Gary ignored him. "I think we need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," Gary replied venomously as he shoved a paperback onto the shelf rather forcefully.

"There's always something to talk about – the weather, research, books," he picked a book off of the floor and frowned at the morbid title. "Or not," he muttered as he put it back down. "Or maybe secrets that we've been keeping for no apparent reason –"

"May already told you everything!"

"All May said was that you and Tracey were involved and I would say that's only a small part of it," he replied calmly as his grandson focused on alphabetizing a shelf of cds. The professor sat down tiredly on the perfectly made bed when Gary didn't respond. "Come on, Gary, out with it. How long has this been going on?"

Gary exhaled sharply. "Awhile," he replied flatly, still trying to ignore his grandfather.

"Specifically, please?"

"Fifteen months and twenty-three days; are you happy now?"

Professor Oak raised his eyebrows slightly at the curt response. He was well aware of the attitude the teen possessed and while most people were used to it, he was very rarely on the receiving end of it. He certainly wasn't used to it being thrown in his face. "Over a year then… I take it this had a lot to do with that phase you went through after you came home," he mused quietly.

Gary hesitated slightly before responding softly, "Tracey helped me a lot with that."

The professor nodded slowly. "Tracey's a very nice young man; I had been hoping he would find someone just as good as himself. Now that I know about it, I'm actually pretty happy. I'd much rather see you with Tracey than one of your sister's friends – he's after more than your money and reputation." Samuel had always been fond of his young assistant; he was very bright on top of kind, caring, faithful, and anything but materialistic. A far better suitor for his grandson than May's promiscuous friends that wanted anything and everything that was worldly; a handsome young man with a good reputation in the scientific community as well as a nice-sized bank account would make the perfect prey for those girls. Fortunately, Gary was not only smart enough to not fall for their games, but he wasn't even into them in the first place. "When exactly did you figure this out?"

This time Gary's hesitation was more than slight as he set down the stack of cds that he had been holding. He sighed and wandered across his bedroom to the window where he silently gazed out at the ranch. It was several moments before he spoke again. "A pretty long time ago, actually..." He sighed again and turned his gaze towards the dark carpet beneath his feet. "You remember when Ash and I stopped being friends?"

"Yes," Professor Oak replied slowly, remembering the way the friendship between the two children had ended for no apparent reason when they were many years younger. "You weren't exactly very nice to him and then you teased – " he stopped suddenly as realization dawned on him. "Boys that age usually tease people they have a crush on…" Gary nodded miserably without looking up. "I'm assuming you started being mean to him when you realized it until he just stopped being friends with you because of it." The only response was another silent nod. "Well then, it looks like Brock had been right on target when he suggested that you only teased him because you liked him."

Gary's head snapped up at that. "What?"

The professor smiled at the sharp question. "He suggested something along those lines when you and Ash competed in the Silver Conference. Does Ash know about this?"

"No," Gary replied blandly. "Though he probably will by tomorrow with May's big mouth," he added bitterly before sighing once more and crossed the room to sink wearily into the chair at his desk. "I stopped liking Ash like that after everything in Johto," he said softly. "He was the last person I wanted to like and I tried so hard to even care about May's friends. I _wanted_ to like them but I just couldn't."

"You knew you didn't like them so why did you even try?" Professor Oak asked curiously. He couldn't understand why his grandson, as smart and intelligent as he was, hadn't been able to simply accept it and move on as if nothing was wrong. Especially since there truly _was_ nothing wrong.

"Because I was confused! It didn't make sense then and it still doesn't make sense – animals, including humans, exist for the sole purpose of reproducing and you need a male and a female for that! It just doesn't work… Why are you shaking your head?"

Professor Oak smiled, somewhat torn between the researcher being proud of his grandson's ability to think scientifically about something that affected him so much and the grandfather being concerned with the effect this thinking had on the teen over the years. "It doesn't make sense," he agreed cautiously. "But that doesn't mean it's not natural; I mean, how many times have you come across pokemon of the same gender on the ranch… ah, well…"

"Just say it."

"You already know what I mean so there's no point in saying it. Still… You've known I have no problem with these sorts of things, you _could_ have told me. _And_ you know yourself better than anyone else – how could you possibly have been so confused?"

"You don't get it, do you? It's not that easy! Especially when you have no friends that can understand it or when all your friends constantly make fun of… of –"

"You don't have to say it," Professor Oak interjected, raising his hand when he could see that Gary couldn't even force the word to come. "I suppose it doesn't entirely matter anymore since you're obviously comfortable enough to be with Tracey. Anyway, the reason I came up here was to calm you down and tell you that I spoke with your sister and _hopefully_ she'll stop acting so hyper over this situation."

Gary sighed and put his head in his hands, feeling as though a headache were coming on. "It doesn't matter, the damage is done. She's already told her friends; it's only a matter of time before they tell everyone else."

"This probably isn't something you want to hear but you should probably tell your friends before they find out from someone else," the professor advised gently. He lowered his eyes to the floor as his grandson uttered another tired sigh. Samuel Oak knew that telling his friends would be far harder for Gary to do than telling him would have been – after all, the two Oak siblings had been raised knowing that their grandfather was supportive of them in all facets of life.

There was no way of knowing how the other teenage boys would react to this news but his grandson would simply have to approach this challenge with the normal confidence he possessed and just hope for the best.


	4. Outcomes

**Secrets Told**

Chapter Four: Outcomes

Late that night, Gary collapsed onto his bed with a sigh. He had known for quite some time that he would eventually have to tell his friends about him and Tracey but he hadn't exactly planned on doing it anytime soon. It had proved to be one of the more difficult things to do and the normally confident and arrogant teenager had to admit to being rather fearful of the responses from his six closest friends. He could have gone about it many different ways; calling them on the phone individually and tell them quickly without having to deal with the embarrassment of seeing their faces, get them all together and explain everything at once. Instead he opted to seek them out personally and individually, telling them with a rather blunt "I'm gay and I figured you'd rather hear it from me before my sister goes blabbing to everyone." Of course, the wording differed with each person but that was the basic method of delivery.

And, of course, everyone had reacted differently. Disbelief, general acceptance, negative emotions varying from mild annoyance to outright anger…

"_Hate to break it to you, Gar, but April Fools was over a month ago." "That wasn't a joke." "Seriously?" "Yep." "Oh, man. That's gonna take awhile to sink in." "Yeah, well how do you think I felt about it?"_

"_Whatever floats your boat, man. Can you help me with my biology? I've got a major exam tomorrow." "Wait, do you even care?" "About you, yeah; about who you like, no; about this exam, fuck yes. What does the mitochondria do?" "Mito… what?" "Just help me! We'll talk about you tomorrow when we go to the beach after my exam!" _

"_You fucking lied to me!" "How the hell did I lie to you? Did you ever ask me 'hey, Gary, are you gay?' No, you didn't!" "That's beside the point!" "How?" "Does it matter?" "Yes!"_

"_Oh. Well, that explains a lot." "That's it? No other comments?" "Yeah… Well, I mean, I'm sorry for all of the little gay comments I made but you know, you kinda kept it a secret." "Okay… So, no big deal?" _

"_You're what?!" "Gay. As in, I like guys. Is there a problem with that?" "I've gotten dressed in front of you!" "And did you ever catch me checking you out?" "… No." "Then why are you freaking out?" "Um… well…" "My point exactly. There's no reason for it; besides, you're not even my type." "That's… not entirely reassuring." "You do realize that you act more gay than I do, right?"_

"_Dude!" "Oh, hell…" "Why the hell didn't you ever tell me?" "I… Wait, you're not mad?" "I'm pretty annoyed that you never told me; I'm your best friend! You helped me pick out my Charmander, you helped me evolve my Nidorino, you –" "I get the point. Does it really matter though? I told you either way." "I guess… Hey, you're not gonna replace me with Tracey, are you?" "Sure I am." "Hey!" "What? He lets me have sex with him. Can we say the same for you?" "Way too much information!" "Now you know how I feel about you and your girlfriends."_

There was nothing he could really do now but hope that it wouldn't change things too drastically.

The sound of the bedroom door creaking open startled Gary out of his mental review of what had happened that evening. He glanced up to see May in the doorway with an uncharacteristically shy expression on her face.

"What do you want?" Gary asked warily as he sat up on the bed to face his sister.

She gave him a weak smile. "I made chocolate chip cookies," she offered quietly.

"First you out me to everyone, now you're trying to poison me. I feel so loved," he replied sarcastically, a slight smile tugging at his lips.

May grinned at that; her pathetic attempts at cooking were an ongoing joke between the two siblings. "Okay, okay; I bought them at the bakery downtown, but the message is still the same," she explained as she walked across the room and climbed onto the bed next to her brother.

"And what exactly is this mystery message?"

"I'm sorry for telling everyone… It wasn't my business and it wasn't my place to tell."

Gary snickered softly and shook his head. "That must've been one hell of a lecture Grandpa gave you earlier."

May visibly cringed at the memory. "Let's not talk about that. I just wanted to say I was sorry and it won't happen again. And I hope everything went alright with your friends… How did that go, by the way?"

"We'll see tomorrow when I meet everyone at the beach; Mike and Brandon kind of freaked out but no one else seemed to care."

May nodded sympathetically and stood up to leave the room. "I figured Wyatt would be the one to freak out with all of the gay jokes he makes. Hey, wanna watch a movie with me?" she suddenly asked cheerfully.

Gary groaned inwardly, of course his sister would be the one to change the subject to that. "Only if I can sleep through it," he muttered.

"I'll let you pick the movie!"

He couldn't help laugh at her enthusiasm and he couldn't exactly blame her for trying to convince him to hang out with her. The two siblings had such vastly different personalities and interests that they rarely hung out together. Finally, Gary nodded in agreement and followed his sister out of the room and down the hall.

They had reached the top of the stairs when May hesitated and turned to face him with a small frown gracing her pretty features. "Wait a minute – you're going to make me watch something gross, aren't you?"

"You did say I could pick the movie," Gary replied smoothly with a small smirk as he headed down the staircase ahead of her.

"Wait – Gary! You little brat!"

--- --- ---


	5. Negativity

**Secrets Told**

Thanks so much to Vulpixi Misa and Destry for reviewing! I should probably thank whoever put this up on the Palletshipper Paradise C2 for suddenly giving me more popularity! Lol, Thanks guys, it's greatly appreciated and I wish I could've gotten this chapter up sooner but unfortunately school takes precedence over my writing. More coming soon – this story isn't over yet.

Chapter Five: Negativity

Gary dropped into his desk chair with a frustrated groan; things were not going well. He had thought that his friends, for the most part, had taken his coming out rather well the day before. Now… Suffice to say not so well. What would have been a normal, carefree day spent surfing, swimming, and generally having a good time in the cool ocean water had turned into what he perceived as a miniaturized hell. It had started out nice with the group of teenage boys lazily floating on their surfboards in the surprisingly calm waters but had changed suddenly when his best friend has inoffensively brought up the previous day in conversation. It had started innocently enough with simple and honest conversation driven by the curiosity of Gary's two most supportive friends while the other two remained in an uncomfortable silence.

It all started to go downhill when his friend Wyatt tried to lighten the mood by tossing out a careless joke which, despite the way it made even Gary laugh, proved to be too much for the two teens that'd had a problem with the whole situation.

"_I only have one problem with this." "This better not turn into a fight like it did with Mike." "You're gay, so you're not into girls." "And?" "So why do the girls all flock to you? I mean, it's not like they're gonna score or anything!" _

Even now, frustrated as he was, Gary couldn't help but snicker softly. He himself had been willing to joke about his sexuality and laugh it off; he had a sense of humor, dry as it was, and was more than capable of taking a joke though some people simply couldn't laugh about it. It didn't exactly matter though as the conversation had heated up and eventually led to arguments between the group of friends, dividing them into three groups – Gary and the two boys that couldn't care less about his relationship with Tracey, the two that couldn't stand the thought of it, and the two that were supportive but needed time to come around to the idea and didn't want to be dragged into the whole mess.

Sighing quietly, Gary put his head in his hands – this is exactly why he had kept it a secret in the first place. The last thing he wanted to do was create a chasm between his friends and, unfortunately, that was precisely what he had inadvertently done. For the first time in a long while, he felt like curling into a ball on his bed and crying; of course, he wouldn't allow himself to push his pride that far away…

His friends would come around eventually and if they didn't… well then, fuck them. They weren't true friends in the first place if they could so easily toss aside years of friendship established during the heart of childhood. That was actually a truly hurtful thought. Couldn't his friends understand how hard it had been for him to even _realize_ his sexuality in the first place? Let alone come to terms with it? What right did they have to feel as though they couldn't deal with it – he was the one that not only had to live with it but live with the reactions of everyone else as well!

Part of Gary had always wished he could simply forget about his sexuality – just push it aside, sweep it under the rug while he settled down with an attractive woman. But those thoughts always disappeared whenever he saw Tracey. Many people would say that live knew no bounds but with Gary, that simply wasn't true. Love was limited to one gender in his case – one person to be specific. That prevented him from ever forgetting it.

There was a soft knock on the open bedroom door that Gary ignored until a soft, familiar, and comforting voice spoke up. "How were the waves today?"

Raising his head, Gary found Tracey standing in the door way, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed casually over his chest. A soft expression in his brown eyes showed unvoiced concern that Gary appreciated as he watched him cross the room.

"Nonexistent," he replied flatly.

"I take it the beach wasn't as enjoyable as you hoped it would be," Tracey observed quietly, correctly reading Gary's tone and the closed-off air about him.

"No, it sucked."

Tracey nodded slightly, able to assume what had happened earlier. "They'll come around," he assured him. He cupped Gary's face lightly and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to his lips. A soft sigh escaped him as Gary's arms automatically wrapped around his frame.

The kiss was meant to be chaste, soothing, but it appeared to Tracey that his boyfriend was having none of that, not with the way he was dragging him down into his lap. Tracey parted his lips slightly as his eyes closed in contentment, allowing Gary's tongue to slip in and curl around his own. As his fingers slowly mussed Gary's already messy hair, he could feel the younger boy's grip tightening, dragging him closer against his bare chest. He wasn't about to complain about the nature of the kiss, he loved kissing an making out with Gary; there was more of a spark between them than there was between Ash and his Pikachu – which was saying a lot, considering how often the electric mouse _still _shocked his trainer.

Gary groaned softly as Tracey pulled away slightly to trail small kisses along his jaw and down his throat; he frowned when his boyfriend pulled away completely and stood up suddenly. "You taste salty," he explained apologetically as he smiled in response to the you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look that Gary was giving him.

Rolling his eyes, Gary stood as well, placed a small kiss on Tracey's cheek, and headed off to the bathroom to shower with his boyfriend following him. He hadn't gotten around to washing the saltwater and sand off himself or even changing out of his board shorts yet, having not had the willpower to do anything other than hide out in his bedroom when he had arrived home.

Tracey caught the bathroom door before it closed behind Gary and slipped into the small tiled room.

"Trace…"

"May left for the mall half an hour before you got home," Tracey informed him simply. He followed Gary's gaze as he glanced towards the small window in the room where, if not for the dark blue curtains concealing the glass, the boys would be able to see the lab. "He's reading up on Pikachu mating habits – he'll be more than occupied for the rest of the day, Gary," he assured him as he closed the door, locking it purely to abate the other boy's worry. He turned on the water in the shower and began to undress, pausing when he noticed that Gary was leaning against the counter, not following suit. "We are not going to get caught," he said firmly, turning and stepping under the cascade of warm water.

Recognizing defeat, Gary sighed and stripped off the slightly damp shorts before stepping into the shower with Tracey. "Happy now?" he whispered against the back of Tracey's neck as he pulled the older boy away from the water so that his back was pressed against Gary's chest.

Tracey smiled at the feel of Gary's warm breath against his bare skin and nodded silently. He turned in his arms, pressed a firm kiss against Gary's lips, and savored the way their moist flesh felt with no barrier between them. The kiss deepened and continued as the bathroom began to steam up from the warm water flowing around the two lovers. Gary could feel his anxiety from the day before and his annoyance from the earlier events of the day slipping away as their hands slowly mapped out the sensitive places on each other's torsos until a particular conversation from earlier snuck into the back of his mind and forced him to pull back.

"_You're dating Tracey?" "I guess that makes sense if you're going to buy into the whole 'opposites attract' bullshit." "What's wrong with Gary and Tracey dating? Tracey's a nice guy!" "He's also kind of a geek." "Come on, guys; do you ever hear me complaining about your girlfriends?" "How does that make a difference?" "Are you kidding me? Just because I'm dating another guy –" "Doesn't mean that you're in the same boat as us with girlfriends." "Leave him alone, Mike – a relationship is a relationship!" "Just leave it, Darren; let's just forget I said anything about Tracey." "It shouldn't matter who you're dating, Gary!" "Yeah, it doesn't give them the right –" "Just forget it! I've had enough for today…"_

Tracey frowned as he felt the sudden tenseness in Gary's muscles. "What's wrong?"

"After this morning… I can't really do this right now, Tracey." Gary bit his lip and avoided Tracey's eyes, unwillingly recognizing the uncharacteristic weakness in his voice.

Sighing quietly, Tracey wrapped his arms around Gary and rested his forehead against his boyfriend's shoulder. "It's okay," he murmured, feeling rather than seeing the small nod Gary gave in response. He pulled away with a sad glance up as Gary continued to avoid his eyes. Wordlessly, he stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist, gathered his clothing, and left the bathroom, gently closing the door behind him as he headed down the hallway towards his own bedroom.


	6. Accomplished

**Secrets Told**

Thanks to Defiant Vixen for your review – _Secret No More_ was actually an inspiration for this story, so it's pretty cool to see you reading this! Thanks also to Virgo Writer for reviewing!

Chapter Six: Accomplished

It was quiet, unusually so, Tracey observed vaguely. He'd heard the shower turn off well over an hour ago and had thought nothing of it until just now when he realized that he hadn't heard any noise of any sort since then. This was incredibly strange as the house was rarely quiet, not with the way Gary's stereo was always playing down the hall whenever the boy was home and not with the way May and her friends would talk and giggle loudly all the time. Certainly not with the way the two siblings he lived with constantly bickered.

He had been lying on his bed since leaving Gary alone in the bathroom, reading a book on water pokemon that Misty had gotten him for his last birthday while absentmindedly scratching his Marril behind the ears. With a quiet sigh he set down his book, turned his gaze the alarm clock on the nightstand next to the bed, and watched the minutes slowly pass. He wanted to track down his younger boyfriend and check on him at the very least but he knew Gary too well to do that – the boy was far too stubborn and proud to let others see him at an unusual low. Of course, Tracey had seen him upset before, but the way his entire body had responded so suddenly and completely to whatever thought had come into his head showed him that this time was different. Tracey knew that he had been fortunate in how accepting people had been of himself, but then again, he had to take into consideration the type of people he befriended – polite, caring, open-minded. He'd never had many friends, being far more interested in reading and watching pokemon to care much, and so he had never worried much about acceptance. Gary, on the other hand, had always been popular and had always had a good-sized group of friends. He had far more to lose than Tracey and the fact that he'd kept the relationship secret did not help his situation much.

He sat up as he contemplated whether to leave his bedroom or to simply stay and wait for something to happen. With a small groan, he pushed himself to his feet and walked to the door after leaving Marril with a final pat on the head. "This is probably going to annoy him…" he complained under his breath. Even if it did annoy Gary, Tracey knew that wouldn't be the case for long; they'd had their share of disagreements over the course of their relationship as well as during the many months of friendship before then. A mild annoyance would be little to deal with, especially in this situation.

Tracey pulled the bedroom door open and was slightly startled when he nearly walked into someone in the hallway. A set of familiar hands caught his shoulders before he could crash into the other person and a small smile curved his lips as dark brown eyes met his own. "Looking for someone?" Gary asked with a small smile of his own.

"You have the best timing," Tracey muttered in response as Gary squeezed past him into the room and sat on the bed.

"So I was right; you _were_ looking for me. Hey, Marril," he greeted the blue aquatic mouse as it jumped into his lap with a cheerful squeak.

Tracey smiled again as he returned to his spot on his bed, leaving the door open as he did so. "I never said I was looking for you, I just said you have good timing," he replied while he leaned back against the pillows with a soft sigh.

Gary grinned and lay down next to Tracey, resting his head on his boyfriend's chest and draping an arm over his waist. "Maybe, but I know you too well; you can't stand being away from me."

"Don't be too cocky," Tracey laughed as he pushed Gary's shoulder roughly. "You're more of a pain in the ass than you realize –"

"In more ways than one," Gary teased, snuggling against the warm soft fabric of Tracey's t-shirt.

Tracey was quiet for a moment while shifting his weight to slip an arm around Gary's shoulders. "I would say something to that but you're being cuddly so I'm going to ignore you being your usual perverted self." He could feel the soft chuckle reverberate through Gary's chest and then through his own body as the slightly-husky sound made its way to his ears. This position was a definite reversal of what was normal for the young couple; not that Tracey was complaining, he greatly enjoyed the feeling of the younger boy wrapped in his arms.

They were silent for several long minutes, simply maintaining their comfortable positions as Gary traced his fingers lightly along the waistband of Tracey's shorts. Tracey only smiled in lazy contentment while slowly running his hand up and down Gary's back. He could by that certain tenseness in the teen's shoulders that he was deep in thought; to anyone else, Gary would seem relaxed but Tracey had, over time, learned to recognize even the most subtle clues to what was really going on in his head.

"What are you thinking of?" he finally asked after a long while had passed as they quietly lay there.

Gary stirred slightly against Tracey's shirt and raised his head to look at him. "A lot of things," he replied, meeting his eyes calmly.

"Such as?"

Gary remained quiet for several moments after the gentle prompt, clearly trying to put his thoughts in order before finally speaking. As much as Tracey wanted him to just say whatever it was, he was relishing the way it felt to be lying like this without worrying about being caught. The longer the silence, the longer they could maintain this position.

"I don't know why I let this get so far," Gary finally whispered as he rested his head against Tracey's chest once more. Tracey could feel his heart jump at the words – they sounded foreboding and he couldn't help but worry what the meaning behind them was. He couldn't find the breath to ask what exactly Gary meant by them but he soon carried on without needing any prompt from Tracey. "It's been over a year; don't you think that's a little too long to hide a relationship?"

Tracey let out a tiny sigh of relief at these words; though not entirely relieved, he at least sensed that this wasn't quite as bad as he originally thought. "Gary," he began softly, knowing his next words would likely sound more harsh than they were meant to be. "We kept it a secret because _you_ wanted to, I've been willing to be open about it since the start."

"I know, I was just thinking… Maybe the reason it all went over so badly is because we kept it a secret for as long as we did."

"It's only been a day, these things take time; you know that."

"Yeah, but –"

"What's really bothering you, Gary?"

Gary groaned and buried his face in Tracey's shirt for a moment as he once more recognized defeat – only Tracey was capable of seeing through him that easily, granted, his grandfather was rather good at this as well. Still, Tracey managed to pick up on everything that anyone else would miss, likely due to his experience as a pokemon watcher. "I want to be open with it, Trace, but I hate putting my friendships on the line because of it! I hate this entire fucking situation!"

"Calm down," Tracey intoned gently before Gary could continue on his tangent.

"Do you think it's too late to tell them it was just a joke?" Gary asked suddenly.

Tracey sighed loudly at this and wrapped his arms around Gary's frame more tightly. "Don't be so negative, Gary; don't you realize how much it means to me for us to be open about this? I've been waiting on you for over a year and for you to even think about passing it off as a joke –"

"I was just kidding, Tracey! Give it a rest. I just wasn't entirely ready to come out to everyone all at once… I don't want to deal with this right now."

"I love you, you know," Tracey whispered soothingly as he ran his fingers through Gary's hair. "Just give it some time."

"I love you too," Gary muttered, his voice muffled slightly by the way he was still laying with his head on Tracey's chest.

Tracey didn't reply, choosing instead to relax as he easily realized that this was likely to be as calm as his boyfriend was going to get today. Regardless of whatever was on Gary's mind, he himself was rather complacent with spending hours just lying around together. Though they had always managed to spend time doing exactly this, the current situation was different; for starters, they didn't have to worry about anyone catching them as they had always done before. Secondly, May was out with friends and had no way of interrupting them. Even Professor Oak was far too preoccupied to bother them and, with Gary's friends out of the picture for once, they had the whole afternoon to themselves. It may have been a bit selfish on his part, but Tracey simply couldn't resist taking advantage of the day's events to lay back and unwind for a bit. His hands tenderly toyed with Gary's hair for a long while until he felt him slowly relax into the gentle embrace.

He smiled slightly to himself sometime later as he realized that his boyfriend's muscles were completely free of tension. "Sleeping or skulking?" he asked lazily when Gary tiredly nuzzled against his chest.

"Neither," was the quiet response.

"Relaxing?" Gary nodded. "Maybe we can start doing this more often then?"

"Yeah…"

Tracey reached over, retrieved his book from the nightstand, and resumed his reading from earlier that afternoon. He felt more content than he had ever before as he glanced down at the way his Marril was curled up between himself and Gary. The only thing, he thought, that could make the picture more perfect would be if Gary's Umbreon were curled at the foot of the bed as well. It was truly comfortable – to the point that he could feel his eyes fluttering shut after a fairly short amount of time.

He hadn't even realized that he had fallen asleep until he heard the professor calling them; the room was dark when he opened his eyes. Marril was no longer napping on the bed though a glance around the room revealed a black and yellow canine curled next to the bed as though guarding her trainer and his lover.

"Boys?" the professor's voice asked from a short distance down the hallway.

Gary stirred against him and groaned quietly. "Pretend to be asleep so he'll leave us alone," he muttered drowsily.

"I heard that, Gary." Tracey laughed quietly when Professor Oak appeared in the doorway and took in the sight of his grandson and his young assistant lying on the rather small bed together with a small smile. "I got off the phone with Ash a few minutes ago, it turns out he's having some problems with Pikachu so he'll be coming by whenever he gets into town next week."

Tracey grinned and lightly ruffled Gary's hair as he groaned again and buried his face against him with a dark mutter. "It'll be nice to see him again," he said to the professor, ignoring the scoff that came from Gary's direction.

Professor Oak nodded in response. "I just wanted to let you know before I forget about it. Come on, Umbreon, let's leave them alone." He waited for the dark pokemon to stretch and head into the hallway ahead of him before closing the door behind them.

The dark room was silent for a moment before Gary spoke up. "Think Ash could've picked a worse time to come home?"

"He could've shown up today," Tracey pointed out. He sat up as Gary complained quietly, forcing the taller boy to move so that he was no longer cuddled against his chest.

"Tracey!"

"I know how to cheer you up," Tracey replied, letting a mischievous grin slowly spread across his face. Gary grinned in response and sat up as well, pushing Tracey back against the pillows as he leaned closer and pressed his lips against Tracey's. The kiss deepened quickly, as they always seemed to, and Gary soon slipped into Tracey's lap as he straddled the other boy's waist and let his fingers twine in his dark hair. They pulled apart ever so slightly, still close enough to feel each other's breath against their lips. "See, I always know how to cheer you up," Tracey said as he gave Gary an impish smirk that only seemed to cross his features during select encounters between the couple.

"Trace?" Gary murmured as he placed his lips against Tracey's neck.

"Mmm?"

"Shut up."

Tracey gasped slightly as Gary's teeth nipped at his flesh but forced himself to respond. "Make me," he whispered, sighing softly as he felt Gary's hands fumble slightly at his waist.

He couldn't help but feel at least a little accomplished knowing that he had managed to salvage what had started off as a lousy day for the person that mattered most to him.


	7. Luck

**Secrets Told**

Thanks very much to enteryournamehere5 for your message – it was greatly appreciated. Thanks also to Defiant Vixen for reviewing!

Chapter Seven: Luck

The Friday afternoon was warm and bright with the sun high in the sky. Many people had headed indoors to escape the heat of southern Kanto, yet one teenager was still outside on his grandfather's ranch, playing with two of his pokemon. Gary laughed as he dodged Umbreon's latest leap in his direction; mussing her sleek fur, he spared a glance over at his Houndoom when it growled playfully at him and side-stepped a playful leap from his dark fire-type pokemon. A playful shove sent the horned canine into a low stance that Gary snickered softly at.

Houndoom growled again and made another leap at its trainer, Gary side-stepped and pushed the pokemon yet again, wincing as one of the curved horns grazed his forearm. The scratch hurt but it wasn't particularly painful, so he paid it no heed until Umbreon stopped playing and barked loudly at him. That was when he felt the warmth on his arm; a glance down confirmed the gash that his pokemon's horn had left.

"Great," he muttered sarcastically as he inspected his latest wound. "Grandpa's not gonna be thrilled about this…" Professor Oak was, it seemed to Gary, unceasingly lecturing him on being careful around the lab and ranch. The two canines followed him across the lawn and into the lab where he headed straight towards the backroom where he knew the first aid supplies were. "Hey, Trace," he greeted calmly as he passed his boyfriend typing away on one of the computers.

"Hey, Ga – what did you do _this_ time?" Tracey jumped up and quickly followed as he noticed the blood flow that Gary was trying to stem without him noticing.

"Nothing big, don't worry."

"Don't worry? Gary, if I have to give you more stitches –"

"I don't need stitches! Besides, I can do it myself," he reassured Tracey as he rummaged around one of the cabinets for a bandage.

Tracey pulled him away from the cabinet and instead pressed a towel against the gash while trying to ignore the mild irritation and incessant worry he felt over the teenager. It seemed as though the boy couldn't be left alone without getting into some sort of injury, though this _was_ one of the more mild ones he had obtained recently, Tracey noticed. Stitches would be best, if he could get his boyfriend to sit still long enough for the procedure; then again, promises of intimacy tended to work best for that matter.

"Gary, this is pretty deep," he observed as he ushered Gary into a chair near the counter. "I think it needs stitches."

"Tracey…" Gary sighed and fidgeted with the towel that his boyfriend was holding against his arm. "It's bad enough that Ash is coming, I don't need Grandpa freaking out if he sees stitches in my arm –"

"I won't tell if you won't –"

"Trace."

"An extra hour in your bed," Tracey added as he pulled out a large first aid kit which Gary eyed warily.

"Done; hurry up before he gets back from lunch."

Tracey laughed as he grasped Gary's arm and began cleaning the cut. "I love how I can get you to agree to absolutely anything so long as I offer you sex… You're such a typical teenager."

Gary leaned forward and grinned mischievously. "Except typical teenagers aren't totally in love with their gorgeous – ow! Holy fuck; a little warning maybe?"

Tracey smirked slightly at the yelp that he had caused with the stitches he had started without warning. "You were saying?"

"I _was_ trying to say that I love you but now I'm not so sure. And I definitely need to ease off the sarcasm with you; you're starting to get mouthy. Can't have that."

A smile worked its way across Tracey's face despite the way he focused at the task at hand. He had always marveled at the way they managed to joke around in situations like this; the fact that Gary somehow managed to maintain his usual sarcastic sense of humor even in most stressful situations around the lab simply made Tracey love him even more. Even someone as calm and laid-back as Tracey had to admit that it was often difficult to keep a level head while working in a place where dangerous situations could easily and quickly arise and then, just as easily and quickly, take a sudden turn for the worse; the ability for someone to keep their head was a highly desirable character trait. Of course, he wouldn't be with someone who wasn't levelheaded – being friends with someone as hyper and impulsive as Ash was trying enough, Tracey couldn't see how he could possibly date someone like that. "Back to what you were saying before this?" he prompted.

"Before you stabbed me, you mean? I was going to say that I decided I'm actually straight and I don't want to date you anymore."

"How long before you come whining back to me? You can play tough around everyone else but you don't even try to fool me."

Gary chuckled softly and leaned up to kiss Tracey's cheek as he finished up the quick job of stitching the relatively small wound. "I was kidding; I was saying that I love you." He fell silent as Tracey cleaned up and bandaged the stitches with a warning about not letting the professor see it. He was hesitating to say what he had been thinking about telling Tracey for the past few days; he had slept little during the past few nights, instead staying up with insomnia due to the jumbled thoughts he had been trying to sort out.

His feelings for Tracey had always been strong, to the point that he had refused to hang out at the house with his friends, lest they notice the way the two interacted. He had quickly become smitten by Tracey after a limited amount of time spent as friends, which had surprised him greatly as he had thought himself to be one of those people who simply never found love. Not that he viewed that as a particular tragedy; he simply hadn't felt the urge to seek it, nor had he even had an interest in it. Of course, he'd had crushes here and there while raging teenage hormones provided an unending supply of smutty fantasies that kept him mostly satisfied; a boyfriend, or lover of any sort, for that matter, had been the last thing he had anticipated. That had changed unexpectedly when he found his thoughts constantly drifting to a particular male and this is what had driven him to depression – a sudden lovesickness that had caught him utterly off guard and had often left him lying in bed for hours with strange thoughts circulating his mind. Desperation for lusty encounters coupled with confusion along with the wish to simply be able to be like his friends had only fueled this and left him feeling lost, helpless, and completely alone.

Tracey's kind and helpful disposition helped and worsened the situation at the same time. While his friendship soothed fears and worries, those chocolate eyes drove him absolutely crazy, those pale lips haunted his fantasies, those long fingers left him aching for caresses that no one he knew could possibly provide – though normally cool and collected, he found himself often snapping at friends or his grandfather, brushing off promises to his friends and sister so that he could brood alone in his bedroom… He had been a completely different person and while his friends constantly fought with him and his family annoyed him nonstop, one person had offered a sympathetic ear and one person had unwaveringly stood by him even if he pushed him away.

The relationship had started after the drunken occurrence that took place in his bedroom while May's birthday party took place downstairs, conveniently occurring while the professor was away on business, but he viewed it a bit differently. That spark had been there all along, the caring had been there from the start, and, no matter how much Gary pushed him away, Tracey kept coming back until he had finally given in to him. Then Tracey had stayed and even agreed to keep the whole ordeal secret for over a _year_ despite how much it pained him. Gary had tested him and pushed him to limits that others would have allowed to break, and yet, he stayed and managed to love him more and more each day.

The boys knew each other entirely; no secrets were unshared nor words unsaid – they were perfectly open and honest with each other and Gary would have it no other way. This week had been a bit different, however, as Gary had been waiting for the moment to say what he had been thinking, not to mention the fact that he needed to work up some courage to even say it.

"Trace?"

Tracey glanced up as he put away the first aid kit in one of the cabinets, recognizing an obvious amount of trepidation in the way his name was softly pronounced. "What is it?"

Gary slowly stood and leaned against the counter next to Tracey. "I've been thinking a lot this past week," he began hesitantly. Tracey smiled at the words and leaned back against the counter as well.

"That's always a dangerous thing," he teased; Gary ignored the quip.

"I was thinking about everything between us and… It's just," he broke off with a small sigh and averted his eyes.

Already thrown off by the surprising way Gary had ignored his small joke, Tracey frowned, slightly worried by the abnormal nervousness. "Gary, I think you might have lost more blood than you realize; maybe you should sit down for a bit," he suggested quietly.

"I'm fine, Tracey," Gary muttered wearily, sinking back into the seat that he had previously abandoned.

Still frowning, Tracey followed him to the chair and kneeled in front of it so that they were closer to eye level. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing – really, Trace… You know me; I'm not good at the whole sharing feelings thing." Tracey nodded in understanding, for that was definitely true. It had taken Gary absolutely forever to admit how much he loved Tracey and, in the end, the other boy had resorted to coaxing it out of him on their one year anniversary. "I love you –"

"I love you too," Tracey automatically replied, his hand moving up to touch Gary's cheek.

Gary shook his head, gently brushing away Tracey's hand. "No, Tracey. I mean, I _really_ love you and I can't imagine being with anyone else other than you."

"Gary…" Tracey was shushed quickly as Gary placed a finger against his lips.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I don't really care who knows that – I'm done with hiding this, I don't care what anyone else thinks."

"Gary, what are you saying?" Tracey asked a bit uncertainly. He couldn't help furrowing his brow in slight confusion; he felt that he knew where this was going but there was no way Gary could possibly be thinking what he was… His heart rate had nearly doubled what it had been a moment ago, his head was spinning.

"I just told you, Trace," Gary whispered. "I want to be with you… I want to marry you one day – not any time soon!" he added hastily at Tracey's shell-shocked expression. "I just meant… maybe in a few years? When we're both older and we can have our own place?"

Tracey released a small sigh of relief as Gary reiterated his earlier words. Gary had voiced the exact thing Tracey had thought he was getting at and though he heartily agreed with the words, he was relieved to hear the swift correction. "That's good," he replied softly. Gary's face fell slightly at the words and Tracey mentally kicked himself as he pressed a small kiss against his lips. "I want the same thing but I just want you to think about the implications, Gary… You're still a teenager and you just came out about this less than a week ago and you weren't even willing to do that then. I mean, it's been less than two years."

"I know," Gary agreed quietly. "That's why I said when we're older." He met Tracey's eyes searchingly, wondering a bit as to what the answer would be if he had asked… "Well? What do you think, Tracey?"

Tracey smiled and cupped his face in his hands. "Of course. I'm just not ready for that yet and if I'm not ready then I doubt you are. You understand."

Gary nodded and agreed with him, realizing that he had, perhaps, brought the topic up too soon after the dramatic turn of events over the weekend. He stood and pulled Tracey up with him to return the soft kiss the other boy had placed against his lips a moment before. "That was kinda hard," he admitted almost shyly as they pulled apart from the kiss.

With his hands resting on Gary's chest, Tracey couldn't help but grin at the statement as he could feel the rapid heartbeat that caused Gary's breath to come much faster than it normally would. "I'm not surprised," he replied simply. His grin faded to a small content smile as he pulled Gary into a loving embrace, not wanting to let go until he absolutely had to while his boyfriend's arms wrapped easily around his frame. They had been standing like that for all of perhaps two or three minutes when they heard Professor Oak's voice call their names from the entrance of the laboratory.

"In the back, Grandpa," Gary called back as they pulled away from the embrace when they heard footsteps approaching the small room they were standing in.

"Please don't tell me you broke any bones this time," the professor sighed in exasperation as he approached the room.

"Not today."

"How many stitches?" Professor Oak asked without missing a beat. He knew his grandson better than most people and many people in the small town knew how often the teenager managed to get into trouble. Having mended most of the boy's injuries over the years, the older man knew exactly what it meant to find Gary in the back room of the lab.

"Seven," Tracey responded calmly as his boss appeared in the doorway.

The professor immediately snatched his grandson's arm and examined Tracey's handiwork for a moment before speaking. "Seven, huh? A lucky number, Gary. Ash is on his way over from Delia's, by the way." It seemed as though he were utterly oblivious to everything that had happened in the room other than the first aid treatment, which was rather unsurprising, seeing as he had failed to notice the blooming relationship between his two lab assistants for over a year. He turned and left the two boys in silence as he headed towards one of the computers in the lab.

Gary quirked an eyebrow as he pondered what his grandfather had just said. "Lucky," he echoed softly in slight disbelief.

"You do realize that we'll have to tell Ash about this, right? You guys are sort of friends now, after all," Tracey reminded him.

Gary nodded distractedly in response; he would need all the luck he could get when it came to telling Ash, he was certain. Perhaps Tracey's positive response to everything he said, combined with the lucky number of stitches was a good omen of some sort. After all, one could only hope for the best in any situation.


	8. Surprise

**Secrets Told**

Thanks to Virgo Writer and Defiant Vixen for reviewing! Despite the lack of details, part of this chapter is a bit… mature. I'll leave everything to your imagination. : )

Chapter Eight: Surprise

May was calling for them but Tracey ignored the sound of her voice drifting up from the foyer on the first floor; he doubted Gary had even heard her, if he had, he certainly paid no heed. Ash had likely arrived but he had made a promise to make the stitches in his boyfriend's arm worth his while and he wasn't going to go back on that, not with the way he had the younger boy panting and grasping his hair between soft groans. Tracey smiled to himself; those sounds made his head spin and made him lose all sense but he prided himself in the fact that _he_ was the only one who could make the young researcher writhe the way he currently was. The young woman who had been downstairs called them again and this time Tracey could hear footsteps down the hall.

He pulled back and glanced up at Gary as a frustrated groan fell from the brunette's lips. "We need to finish up before she comes to get us," he said quietly, shooting a nervous glance at the locked door even though he knew May couldn't possibly find a way in.

"Trace, please…"

He smiled again; of course he was the only person who could possibly make Gary Oak beg. It was amazing what love did to certain people, especially in this relationship – it gave Gary weaknesses that weren't usually there and made Tracey more daring than he normally would be. Of course, those differences were only apparent when the two boys were together. Tracey gave a slight nod and lowered his head once more, returning to his prior task while May knocked on the door and Gary yelled something about being downstairs in a moment. He quickened his pace and finally pulled away again a few minutes later as he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand before moving up to press a small kiss against Gary's flushed cheeks with another small smile.

Gary grabbed his wrist as he moved to stand up and gave him a slightly disheartened look. "You said an hour," he complained softly.

Tracey frowned slightly; he hated to break any promise to anyone, but breaking one he had made to Gary actually made his heart ache, especially after what he knew to be a stressful week for his partner. The kicked-puppy expression Gary was giving him certainly did not help matters; the boy had perfected the art of giving puppy eyes, something the professor had jokingly referred to as the "sign of a spoiled child."

"You'll get the other half later," Tracey replied after a moment, unable to hold back a small laugh as Gary scowled at him. "We can't keep Ash waiting, you know how your sister is." He stayed in the bedroom only a few moments longer, mostly to keep his boyfriend from complaining too much, before heading downstairs to greet his close friend that he hadn't seen in close to a year.

In his eagerness, Tracey took the stairs two at a time and all but ran to the kitchen where he was sure May was yapping off Ash's ear to the best of her abilities. Hopefully, she hadn't yet blurted out the things she had found out about himself and her younger brother just under a week prior. Surprisingly, when he reached the fair-sized kitchen, he found that May was being the quiet one as she sat at the breakfast nook with her chin resting in one hand while listening in an awestruck fashion to Ash as he told her some story involving his Staravia. Ash glanced up at the sound of footsteps approaching the room and quickly vacated his seat at the sight of Tracey; the two boys hugged briefly with identical grins and joined May at the table.

"I missed you," Tracey informed Ash without ever losing his grin. "How have things been going in Sinnoh?"

"Awesome – I have a _ton _of stories to tell you later! The League competition is in three months too, I have a really good feeling about it. What about you? How is working in the lab? I bet Gary's been annoying you nonstop!"

Tracey laughed, sorely tempted to tell the other boy _exactly_ how much Gary had been able to annoy him over the course of… was it sixteen months that they had been together now? Maybe it was seventeen, he was never the best at remembering dates and the like – fortunately for him, his boyfriend was, and it was an incredible help in the lab. It was also nice to have someone balance out his weaknesses while he returned the favor. He noticed May quirk an eyebrow with a small, knowing smirk in a near-perfect imitation of her brother and gave her a small look, which Ash seemed to miss, to remind her to remain quiet.

"Gary's not that bad," he replied honestly with a chuckle before telling Ash about the recent projects they had been working on in the laboratory.

In the back of his mind, he noticed time passing fairly quickly, something which was confirmed by several glances towards the clock on the microwave. Ten minutes went by, then twenty… a half hour. He was beginning to wonder if he would have to go upstairs to fetch the stubborn pain – what in the world was he doing upstairs anyway? Ash was commenting on a brief story involving Marril, Umbreon, and a well-timed water gun attack that Tracey had just told him when a soft sound from a different part of the house reached his ears. Were those sneaking footsteps he heard on the stairs, and was that the front door closing softly that he had just heard? If Gary was sneaking out to avoid seeing Ash and telling him about their relationship… Well, Tracey wasn't quite sure his reaction would be the calm one that was normal for him. He certainly would not be happy.

Leaning forward in his seat slightly, he was able to see out the window and into the driveway. A second later, he could see his boyfriend approaching the Jeep that his grandfather had gotten him for his sixteenth birthday.

"Excuse me for a second, Ash," Tracey stood, interrupting Ash mid-sentence and hurried outside, leaving behind a very confused pokemon trainer and a smirking May.

To say he was annoyed was an understatement; this was, by far, the angriest he had felt in years as he sprinted over to the car and grabbed the door just as Gary started to close it. To his credit, Gary had the grace to look startled by the sudden appearance of the older boy.

"Gary, what the _hell_ are you doing?" he snapped as he glared up at him. "Ash is one of my best friends – him knowing about us means a lot to me!"

Gary pulled the key from the ignition of the car and slowly slipped out of his seat and climbed out so that he and Tracey were closer to eye level than the raised vehicle allowed. "I'm not running off, Trace," he replied calmly, placing his hands on Tracey's shoulders and meeting his eyes easily.

"You're not?" Tracey flushed slightly with embarrassment but didn't lose his irritated edge.

"No," the response was light and accented by a slight laugh. Gary smiled at him and shook his head slightly. "I'm going to pick up Darren and Brandon; I'll be gone for ten minutes."

Tracey stared up at him in confusion for a moment; picking up his best friend was understandable, although poorly timed, but the other boy he had mentioned was one of his friends who had been rather negative towards his coming out. "But I thought you and Brandon weren't getting along," he replied lamely.

"Apparently he's gotten over it," Gary shrugged and gave him another small smile. "I'll be back in a few minutes, I promise." He leaned forward and gave Tracey a small peck on the cheek before pressing a quick but rather passionate kiss on the lips. Tracey returned the kiss easily and drew away as Gary climbed back into the Jeep and grinned at him. "By the way, Trace, you're really cute when you get all flustered and pissed off at me like that."

The engine turned over and, despite his laugh, Tracey rolled his eyes at the comment and headed back to the house, mostly calmed by what Gary had said and somewhat content from that kiss. Kissing that boy always seemed to make his head spin at least a little bit…

He closed the front door behind him, went straight back to the kitchen, and paused in the doorway. The way Ash was uncomfortably avoiding his eyes did not escape his notice. A soft sigh escaped him as he sat back down at the table across from his friend. "You saw that, didn't you?"

Ash hesitated for a moment and nodded slowly. Tracey closed his eyes briefly and then opened them to regard the boy in front of him curiously; this wasn't entirely the reaction he had expected, not from this hyper and insanely childish friend of his. At least it wasn't a negative reaction, though the silence made it hard to judge what Ash was thinking.

"This wasn't really the way I wanted you to find out, but I guess you can't really get anything your way anymore," he added as an afterthought, his mind momentarily flitting to the events of the weekend.

"I just didn't expect anything like that…" Ash said quietly after a few minutes passed. Another few moments passed in an uneasy silence. "So… I, uh, I guess Gary's…"

"Yeah, he's gay," Tracey replied. Gary was not going to like this; then again, at least he wouldn't have to be the one to tell Ash about it, perhaps he would be relieved enough by that fact to let it go without an argument.

"And you guys are dating?" Tracey nodded in response, easily noticing the way Ash's voice grew strangely quieter with each thing he said. "How long?"

"Almost a year and a half."

Ash raised his eyes and met Tracey's for a moment and something akin to anger flashed across his face before disappearing into what appeared to be confusion and hurt. "You kept that from me for over a year? I thought I was one of your best friends!"

"You are, Ash! I wanted to tell everyone about it – we kept it a secret because Gary wasn't comfortable with it yet," Tracey calmly explained, inwardly a bit surprised by Ash's reaction.

"So just because you're dating him, you're letting Gary run your life?"

Tracey frowned, only someone who didn't understand Gary would make an accusation like that; apparently there were still some remnants to the rivalry that had supposedly ended after the Silver Conference in Johto. Although certainly the dominant one in the relationship, Gary had _never_ tried to control him and having his best friend insinuate that had been the case very nearly infuriated him – it seemed that Gary's hotheaded nature had worn off on him slightly over time.

"Gary does not control me, Ash, I willingly kept it secret even if I didn't like it," he replied tartly. No matter how often he whined or gave those _adorable_ puppy-dog eyes in order to get his way, Gary had never been manipulative and, in fact, he had always encouraged Tracey to do his own thing.

Tracey couldn't help but think that Gary had been the perfect boyfriend since the beginning; well, nearly perfect anyways but everyone had flaws. He was forever doing small things for Tracey – getting him drinks or food when he was too busy working in the lab to even think about it in the first place, always making sure to give him a kiss before turning in for the night, constantly checking over any injuries, letting him control the radio in the car – little things that meant the world to him. Gary spoiled him too, his bookshelf and dresser were both accented by little things his boyfriend had picked up for him; there were a few pretty shells, some large pieces of sand dollars or coral that had washed up, even a fairly large sea urchin shell that Gary had found when he went to Hoenn to help out Professor Birch for a short time several months before. Not to mention the way he always seemed to find a brand new sketch book on his desk whenever his current one had only a few blank pages left, even though he knew that his frequent sketching often bored Gary, despite the way the younger of the two tried in vain to hide it so as to not make Tracey feel bad.

"Why did you do it if you didn't like it?" Ash asked incredulously.

"Because I love him – that's what love is; it involves sacrifices and putting other people before yourself!" Nothing could have prepared him for the expression of complete and utter shock that appeared on Ash's face at his words, nor for the way the other boy suddenly stood a bit shakily. "What is it?"

"Nothing… I, I'm gonna go see how Professor Oak's doing with Pikachu – Sorry, Tracey."

Tracey watched dumbfounded as his friend quickly left the room and headed in the direction of the lab. He didn't know what to think or to expect to happen next; whatever he had been initially expecting, it certainly wasn't the way Ash had just ran off. It wasn't the way he had wanted things to go. Unconsciously, his hand reached up and fingered the necklace that he had worn every day since his twentieth birthday eight months ago. It was a large piece of deep blue sea glass that Gary had found on the beach at Cinnabar Island; he had drilled the hole in it himself and had strung it on a leather cord. Tracey loved it; the cobalt blue was his favorite color, it reminded him of the beaches back home in the Orange Islands, and, of course, it had been a gift from Gary, one that he had made, and therefore meant a lot to him.

"You love my brother?" May finally found her voice. "Aww, Tracey, that's so sweet! You two should totally get married!" She paused with a silly, excited smiled plastered on her face and appeared to think before the smile depleted a bit. "Wait, how would you guys do the bridesmaids? I would be the maid of honor, wouldn't I?"

Outside, Tracey caught a glimpse of the Jeep pulling back into the driveway and he sighed. "May, not now," he muttered as he stood and headed upstairs to his bedroom. He doubted Gary's reaction to Ash's actions would be particularly good and he wasn't about to let his boyfriend's friends see him upset.


	9. Enliven

**Secrets Told**

Thanks to Virgo Writer, DaDwarf, and Defiant Vixen for reviewing! I can't tell you guys how thrilled I am to see this story being received so well! I wanted to have this chapter up sooner but I was so focused on _Beyond the Walls_ that I couldn't come up with much for this one until I finished three or four chapters for that one.

Chapter Nine: Enliven

Gary leaned back on his bed with a laugh; it felt nice to be in a light-hearted situation with friends, it was something he had missed throughout the week. The two friends he had picked up while Tracey had been entertaining Ash were spread out in his room; the kitchen had been empty when they arrived at the house so Gary simply assumed that Tracey and Ash had retreated to the lab and he took it to mean that he was allowed to hang out and do whatever. So they went upstairs and that was where they had been for the past half hour. He had been wary when he had been expected to pick up one of his friends who'd had a rather… argumentative response to him a week prior but that had faded when he was informed of the reasoning behind said reaction – something about divorcing parents. Showing a perhaps rare bit of sympathy, Gary had forgiven him surprisingly easily, having passed the age for holding grudges years ago. It didn't entirely stop him from being annoyed with the other teen, but it abated the distinct anger he had felt towards him.

He opened his mouth reply to the joke that he had been laughing at and paused when a movement in the doorway caught his attention. Glancing over, he smiled as Tracey's Marril entered the room but the smile faltered when he noticed that the mouse wasn't acting like its cheerful self.

"What's up, Marril?" he asked quietly as the little water pokemon jumped up on the bed next to him and looked up at him with large eyes that seemed to be filled with worry as opposed to the normal cheer.

It wasn't unusual for Tracey's pokemon to come into Gary's room so he wasn't the slightest bit surprised when Marril came in. Both Gary and Tracey's pokemon were fond of their trainer's partner and often sought them out for attention and treats – Houndoom and Arcanine in particular loved begging Tracey for treats while Umbreon liked to lie next to his desk in the lab for hours when he was working; Gary's other pokemon all seemed to love Tracey but his three favorite canines absolutely adored him. Tracey's Venonat had a certain fondness for sleeping on Gary's bed while Marril would often fall asleep in his lap while he worked either in the lab or on the computer in his bedroom. What _was_ unusual was for the aquatic mouse to not be squeaking in joy at the sight of him.

Marril gave a chirp that sounded oddly sad and pointedly looked in the direction of Tracey's bedroom before looking back up at his trainer's boyfriend. Gary frowned and looked down at Marril for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on. "Something wrong with Tracey, buddy?" The mouse gave another small squeak and nodded its head. With a small sigh, Gary stood and followed Marril out of the room, muttering a quick excuse to his friends and heading down the hallway to Tracey's bedroom.

He was sitting on his bed, facing away from the door and, judging by his body language, Gary could tell that he wasn't happy. Gary crossed the room in a few strides, climbed on the bed behind Tracey, dragged him back against his chest suddenly, and planted a kiss against his lips before flashing him a grin. He frowned when Tracey only gave him a weak smile in response; something was definitely wrong, that move usually earned him a laugh at the very least.

"What's wrong?" Tracey merely shook his head. "Trace? Come on, tell me." With no response, Gary figured he would have to resort to guessing, though he assumed it wouldn't be too difficult to figure out what was bothering him. "Did May tell Ash?" Tracey shook his head again. "Then he doesn't know?" Gary asked hopefully.

Another shake. "He saw us in the driveway," Tracey said flatly.

A frown furrowed Gary's brow; if Tracey's behavior was any indication, Ash's reaction must have been bad and that surprised Gary. He had always seen Ash as an open-minded person; the boy had known for years that Tracey was gay so why was_ this _a big deal? Wasn't he allowed to have a boyfriend? "What happened?"

"He wasn't too thrilled." Tracey glanced at Gary as his expression darkened and sighed softly. "It was just a shock to him, Gary, please, don't overreact to this. Finding out that _you_ were gay was probably enough to overwhelm him, he really didn't need to find out about us at the same time. He just needs –"

"Time to let it all sink in," Gary finished for him with a slight roll of his eyes. "That's your solution to everything."

"That's because it's true." Gary gave him a look with poorly veiled disbelief evident in his dark eyes. "You and Brandon made up after awhile, didn't you?" Tracey pointed out. "I heard you guys laughing, so I assume you're getting along fine now. Was I right that he needed time to come around to it?"

"His parents are getting divorced and his girlfriend broke up with him last week – I was the most convenient thing for him to take it out on," Gary explained.

"And he needed time to get used to it. Gary, Ash is my best friend, I know him. He'll be fine in a little bit; he recovers quickly, you know that."

Gary huffed and crossed his arms uncomfortably, still annoyed at the fact that Ash had upset his boyfriend. "Yes, I do. We were best friends for years, remember?"

Tracey nodded and a look of curiosity appeared on his face. "What exactly happened between you two, anyway?" He frowned as Gary groaned loudly and leaned back against the wall with a scowl.

"First Grandpa, now you – between you two and May, I'm not going to have any secrets left!" He glared out the window and ran a hand through his messy hair, causing Tracey to smile despite the confused expression that he wore. "I had a crush on him," he finally admitted without looking a Tracey.

Unsure whether he had heard properly, Tracey tilted his head to the side and peered at Gary curiously. "You liked Ash?" Gary nodded silently and Tracey laughed softly at the absurdity of it. Gary liking Ash? Impossible to picture! Sure, they had a tentative friendship now but they had hated each other when Tracey came into the fold. Perhaps hate was the wrong word to use; they had a strong rivalry that harbored hurt and betrayal from Ash and, apparently, attraction covered by indifference and dislike from Gary. "Gary, he doesn't even have hormones!"

It was Gary's turn to laugh at that. "Some best friend you are – he had the biggest crush on May when we were kids!"

"Seriously?" Gary nodded again. "He walked in on Misty getting dressed once and had no reaction to it."

"Oh my god, that means he's turned gay!" Gary jumped up from the bed as though he were about to run out of the room and track down his childhood crush but Tracey grabbed his wrist with another laugh.

"Don't even think about it!"

Gary sat back down with a laugh of his own and kissed Tracey's cheek. "He was probably in shock; I doubt he realized she was even a different gender until then."

"Actually, I think fear for his life may have overridden any reaction he may have had."

The two boys were quiet for a minute, simply looking at each other. It was interesting, Gary thought vaguely, how their relationships with Ash were so vastly different and yet they understood him the exact same way. In a way, Ash had been the reason they had gotten together in the first place – Ash being the reason Gary had figured out his sexuality and then being the force that had brought Tracey to work in Professor Oak's laboratory. He figured Tracey was right; finding out about him was likely a major shock to Ash that he needed some time to wrap his head around.

Smiling, he focused on Tracey, whose hand was still on his wrist. Gary gently slid his wrist from Tracey's grasp until his hand was free to hold Tracey's. "So," he began in a teasing tone. "Have I succeeded in cheering you up yet?"

Tracey glanced up and to the side as he often did when he was trying to think about something. He gave Gary a small smirk. "For the most part… I think I could use a kiss though," he added with his best attempt at puppy-dog eyes. He wasn't as good at it as Gary was but it was cute and effective nonetheless.

Gary grinned and acquiesced, leaning forward and capturing Tracey's lips with his own, he could feel Tracey relax as his arms wrapped around him and dragged him closer. Sighing contentedly into the kiss, Gary gently pushed Tracey down onto the bed, hands running through his raven hair as he leaned over him, still deepening the kiss. He heard Tracey moan softly into the kiss and mentally smirked; he loved pleasuring his partner even in small ways like this. They went on for several minutes, breaking only when necessary, until they heard someone clear their throat in the doorway and looked up to find Ash looking more uncomfortable than ever.


	10. Interruption

**Secrets Told**

Thanks to licoricejellybean and Defiant Vixen for reviewing! I never thought I would end up making this story so long but I'm really happy with the way it's turning out – thanks so much to everyone who has been reviewing, I really appreciate it!

Chapter Ten: Interruption

"What do you want, Ash?"

The harshness of Gary's voice startled Tracey, especially since the younger boy was still leaning over him. Even though Gary was looking at Ash, Tracey could clearly see annoyance darken his eyes and could easily feel the other boy's body tense.

Gary's hands were still resting at Tracey's waist and Tracey took the opportunity to run his hands along Gary's arms to lightly rub his shoulders until he looked down at him. When he finally did turn his gaze to the older boy below him, Gary was surprised to find his boyfriend glaring up at him. It wasn't exactly the glare that surprised him; Tracey had been becoming less passive since Gary had moved back to Pallet quite some time earlier and the result had turned into something like a game to the couple. Gary was growing used to the occasional glare from his lover – in fact, the sporadic glares and comments that came with them tended to turn him on; one reason why Tracey usually kept them behind closed doors – but the nature of this glare caught the brunette teen off guard. This was a genuine glare, not a playful one, not one of Tracey's calm please-stop-being-a-pain glares. The surprisingly hard look in the young man's eyes clearly told Gary to stop while he was ahead.

As much as Tracey hated to give Gary the harsh look that he had resorted to, he knew that it was one of the few ways to get him to back off when his attitude became too much. It wasn't the first time he had resorted to it and it certainly wouldn't be the last, but that didn't mean that Tracey had to like it. It just wasn't in his nature to be aggressive; it didn't feel right when he forced himself to be more aggressive – the exception being the somewhat-playful aggression with his boyfriend, or the type of aggression that seemed to turn into foreplay…

"Gary, I think Ash and I need to talk for a few minutes," Tracey said calmly but firmly. The younger boy opened his mouth to argue but was silenced as Tracey placed a finger against his lips.

"I wanted to apologize," Ash spoke up from the doorway, seemingly having gotten over his shock of finding the couple in a rather compromising position.

Tracey spared his friend a half glance as Gary gave an amused snort. He swallowed whatever sarcastic comment he had at the tip of his tongue when Tracey glared at him once more.

"I believe Darren and Brandon are waiting on you, Gary," he said pointedly. A glance towards the open door finalized the apparent request and Gary sighed, realizing he had passed a line that he hadn't noticed he was toying with. He muttered a quiet apology as he stood and left the room, pushing past Ash in the doorway while Tracey sat up and straightened his clothing. "Sorry about Gary –"

"Don't worry about it," Ash interrupted with a small shake of the head; he knew Gary too well to care anymore. He stepped into the bedroom, closed the door behind him, and took a seat at the desk in front of the window. Tracey raised his eyebrows slightly, it seemed as though Ash had matured a bit if he wasn't getting annoyed with Gary's behavior. He had to admit to being impressed with how quickly Ash had come around, after all, it had been only perhaps a half hour since he had fled the kitchen. "I know how he is," he continued as if to explain. "I just kind of wish I knew what you see in him; I mean, Gary is Gary…"

"Ash, no offense, but after that reaction in the kitchen, I don't really think you're one to question my love life. Gary isn't the same spoiled brat that he used to be when you two were rivals – if he was, then I wouldn't be with him. He doesn't try to control me like you implied, it's actually nothing like that. He's one of the sweetest people I know, it's just that he only shows that side of him to the people that mean the most to him. I know him better than anyone else does." Tracey paused at that and glanced at the closed door as though sensing that someone was listening in. "I'm going to sic Marril on you!" he called in a warning tone, only to hear an exasperated sigh followed by retreating footsteps on the other side of the door. Tracey turned back to Ash and smiled at him. "And I have a sixth sense for his eavesdropping. I don't think even Professor Oak can tell when he's listening in."

To his credit, Ash laughed despite the awkward tension that was still in the air. He sobered after a moment. "I'm sorry, Tracey. It's just so weird – I mean, I've always thought that Gary was the type to find the prettiest girl possible and just kind of flaunt it. Him being into guys is just… It doesn't make sense to me and it kind of freaked me out when it finally sunk in," he admitted quietly.

Tracey found it strange to watch Ash speak so calmly and quietly; the boy was too hyper to act like this! Ash may have thought that Gary's preference didn't make sense, but Tracey couldn't make any sort of sense out of Ash's unusual behavior. It just wasn't right! Tracey couldn't help but laugh softly; this sounded vaguely familiar.

"You know, Ash, that's a lot like how Gary felt about it when he was still trying to get used to it. He had a really hard time with it and that's kind of how we got together," he paused and unconsciously looked in the direction of his boyfriend's bedroom. He could easily recall so many nights sitting up late trying to talk Gary through it all – the boy was far from an open person but there was something about Tracey's personality that had made him break down the walls surrounding him and talk about the things that were bothering him.

"How?"

"I understood what he was going through; I'd been through it, it wasn't as bad for me, but I had been through it. We just hit it off from the beginning as friends and it went from there. We clicked – I can't even tell you how we ended up liking each other; it just happened… It doesn't really matter though, does it?"

Ash was silent for several long seconds before sighing softly in defeat. "No, I guess it doesn't," he agreed. "But, Tracey, Gary can be such a jerk sometimes and you're all the way on the other end of the spectrum –"

"I know that, believe me, Ash," Tracey chuckled. "I know perfectly well how he can be to other people but he's never been like that with me. I wouldn't be with him if he was like that and I doubt he would even be working in the lab if he was," he said reasonably. "Professor Oak doesn't exactly put up with his attitude."

"I guess." His voice was still quiet but there was an undertone of acceptance to his words that warmed Tracey.

It seemed as though Tracey had been right in saying that the younger boy had simply needed some time to get used to the idea and he made a mental note to tell Gary and possibly rub in the fact that he had been right when Gary doubted it. Gary, of course, hated to be wrong.

"What's going on with Pikachu?" Tracey asked, desperation to change the subject suddenly welling up within him.

"He's been kind of aggressive lately… Professor Oak thinks he wants a mate."

Tracey laughed at the uncomfortable expression that crossed over Ash's face. "Isn't he a little old for that though? Usually they look for mates when they're younger –"

The door suddenly opened and Gary poked his head in. "Grandpa always says that pokemon take after their trainers," he announced as though it explained everything.

"Gary!" Tracey hurled one of the pillows from his bed at the door, laughing when the other boy closed the door quickly to avoid getting hit. The door opened again and Gary stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend before closing it once more. "Go back to your room, you nosy pain!" Tracey called and shook his head with another laugh.

Ash laughed at the exchange and looked over a Tracey when he heard a door close down the hall. "What were you saying about that sixth sense of yours, Trace?" he asked teasingly.

"He wasn't there the _whole_ time… Though I think he might be right."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash demanded warily and Tracey chuckled.

"Come on, Ash; you're eighteen and you've never had a girlfriend! Don't you think you're off to a bit of a late start?" Tracey asked pointedly.

"Hey! I've been training!"

A small, teasing smile spread across Tracey's face. "Excuses, excuses. Are you sure you aren't gay, too? I'm sure Gary would love you being in the same boat as he was when he was your age!" It was okay for him to tease Ash like that, he figured; even if the teenage trainer guessed that he was implying that Gary liked him, few people would ever believe that it had once been true. Ash certainly would never believe it unless Gary flat out told him, which Tracey sincerely doubted would happen.

An expression that was a cross between horrified, confused, and possibly a bit humored crossed over Ash's face and Tracey had to suppress a laugh. He didn't usually tease his friends but there were times when it was just necessary. He spoke up again to cut off Ash's surprised sputtering as he tried to formulate a response.

"I'm joking, Ash; come on, let's go down to the lab. I'm sure you're dying to see your other pokemon."


	11. Battling

**Secrets Told**

Thanks to licoricejellybean for reviewing – as far as Ash goes, the only ships I like for him are palletshipping and pokeshipping, but since he's straight in this fic, I'll go with Misty. : ) Thanks also to Defiant Vixen!

Chapter Eleven: Battling

Nearly two weeks later found Gary in the laboratory, bored out of his mind. His grandfather was puttering around somewhere behind where he was sitting at his desk, one knee drawn up with his arm resting on it while examining a large bruise that he had managed to obtain at some point without his knowledge. Sighing quietly, he turned his attention to his other arm and glanced over the spot that Tracey had stitched up on the day that Ash had arrived in town. The cut had healed nicely with a scar that Gary was certain would fade rather quickly – not that he cared, he rather enjoyed the attention he received whenever he told stories of how he managed to get the various scars that were scattered over his body.

Sighing rather loudly, he crossed his arms over his chest, mildly disappointed when Tracey didn't even glance up from his computer several feet away. Gary hated being bored, he simply wasn't the type of person who could sit still in one place for long. Unfortunately, Tracey was busy, his grandfather was busy, his sister was out someplace, all of his friends were doing their own thing today, and he had finished his work for the day. On top of that, it was one of those rare days where nothing really needed to be done on the ranch. Groaning in frustration, Gary spun around in the desk chair he was sitting in, whining loudly when he hit his knee on the side of the desk.

Again, Tracey hardly looked up. "Don't hurt yourself, Gary," he muttered as his fingers flew across the keyboard while he typed up a report of some sort. Despite how much he wanted to get out of the lab and hang out with Gary, he had work to do.

A small chuckle sounded from behind the two boys and Professor Oak spoke up. "I never thought I'd say this, Gary, but I think you were more mature when you were ten."

"Please give me something to do before I go insane!" Gary begged, sick of sitting on the sidelines as he had done for the past hour or so.

"Go help Ash train," his grandfather suggested.

A small frown crossed Gary's face as he tilted his head to the side in slight confusion. "I thought Ash went back to Sinnoh?"

Tracey looked up at that and shot Gary a quizzical look. "Did you not notice him in here yesterday?" he asked.

"He was here?"

"All day," Tracey confirmed. Umbreon looked up at her trainer from her spot next to Tracey's desk and fixed him with a look that clearly questioned his sanity; Gary scowled at her. He could almost swear the canine rolled her eyes at him as she put her head back down atop her paws and went back to dozing off.

"I was busy yesterday," Gary explained as he looked away from his pokemon. He had been reading up on Eevees and their evolutions, working on what he hoped to be one of the first studies on Umbreon as a species; in the past few weeks he had plowed through all of the materials available to him and was now waiting on more, leaving him with nothing to do. He knew that he tended to get distracted from everything else in the world by working but he couldn't help but wonder how he had managed to _not_ notice Ash Ketchum in the lab. As he thought, the reasoning came to him – he had been listening to a new album on his mp3 player all day and probably hadn't heard Ash over the headphones. He loved electronics if only for the way they effectively drowned out everything around him.

Another sigh escaped Gary as he slumped in his chair. "Isn't there anything else to do?"

"Not particularly," his grandfather replied, sounding weary. "And Ash could use some help training; he's got that competition coming up soon. I'm sure your pokemon would love a few good battles, too."

Recognizing defeat, Gary stood and left the lab, smiling slightly when Umbreon jumped up and followed him. He headed upstairs to his bedroom where he stripped out of his jeans and t-shirt to slip into a pair of cargo shorts and a black tank top; after pulling on his sneakers and grabbing his sunglasses, he hurried back down to the lab to pick a few more pokemon to bring with him. A few moments later, he was crossing one of the many fields on the ranch towards the place where he could see Ash working with his Heracross and Grotle while Pikachu watched from his perch on the boy's shoulder.

"Hey, loser," Gary called in greeting as he approached the trainer.

Ash glanced up from the mock battle and eyed him warily. "Hi, Gary," he replied with a touch of confusion in his dark eyes. "What are you doing out here?"

Gary pulled a pokeball from his belt and tossed it in the air, catching it easily while Umbreon eagerly looked up him, obviously looking forward to battling. He gave a small shrug as he replied. "Want to battle?"

A grin spread over Ash's face at the question as he glanced at his electric mouse. "Professor Oak put you up to this, didn't he?"

"Does it matter?" Gary asked with a roll of his eyes. "And, for the record, he didn't have to twist my arm too badly. Do you want to battle or not?"

"Let's go," he replied cheerfully with a glance over at his two grass-types who were watching the exchange between the teens.

Gary smiled and allowed Ash to select his first pokemon before tossing out his own pokeball. Initially, they started off with a six-on-six battle involving the pokemon that Ash had on him and the six that Gary had picked somewhat randomly from his vast collection that remained from his training days. At first, Gary was a bit uncomfortable, though he hid it well; one of the things he had always liked about Ash was the way he became so animated during a battle – he would turn into a totally different person and, as a younger adolescent boy, Gary had found the change to be attractive. Part way into the battle, he was mildly surprised to find that he was rather unmoved by that particular change and it pleased him. He now focused exclusively on the battle rather than on his former crush and found himself having fun.

After a thrilling battle that had lasted just over an hour, the boys headed inside for a quick drink and bite to eat before picking new pokemon and going right back outside where they continued battling. Gary could see that Ash had grown as a trainer and had even matured a bit; if it weren't for his relationship with Tracey, he may have grown to like the boy again but, aside from finding him to be a bit cute, Gary felt nothing like those old and confusing feelings that had once reigned.

A few hours and many battles later, the two former rivals stopped battling and locked gazes from across the field as they recalled their final pokemon. Ash's competitive gaze had lost none of its intensity over the years and Gary realized with a small groan that Ash still saw him as a rival; perhaps they were friendlier now than they had been while Gary was still a trainer but, in Ash's eyes, they were still competing while Gary was done with it. He still enjoyed battling but he found that the actual training no longer appealed to him. The traveling had been fun for awhile but, after a few months on his own in the Johto region, Gary had yearned to stay in one place for more than a few days while growing sick of the solitary life of a trainer. It was only one of the many factors leading to him becoming a researcher. He still traveled on occasion to help out other professors – he was, after all, a wanderer at heart – but he was content with spending most of his time in a place that he could call home, with people he could say that he loved.

Returning to Pallet Town had changed him a bit as well. He still had a competitive edge to him but that streak had diminished greatly after he stopped training and, with that, his arrogance had toned down, along with his rather bratty, childish attitude. He had grown up, which wasn't really surprising considering he was in a serious relationship while working in his grandfather's lab and taking online classes for the university in Saffron City. Some things just caused people to come into their own and mature; school, jobs, and relationships were but three of many things that could do that.

He hated to break it to Ash, but the rival that boy had once known was gone and was unlikely to ever return. Tracey had turned him soft, he realized with a small laugh as he shook his head.

"What's so funny?" Ash asked curiously as he closed the distance between them.

"Nothing," Gary shook his head again. "The heat's just getting to me a bit. What do you say we go get some ice cream to cool down?"

Ash agreed and they both laughed when Pikachu became excited by the suggestion. Despite being sweaty from spending hours outside in the summer heat, the boys walked around the perimeter of the house without changing clothes or washing up. They climbed into Gary's Jeep and he couldn't help but laugh softly at Ash as the boy sighed in relief when the air conditioner came on full blast. Gary quirked an eyebrow at the way Ash leaned back in the seat with his eyes closed as he allowed the cold air to wash over him. The boy looked thoroughly debauched with his messy hair and sweat-slicked skin; it was sexy, no doubt, but Tracey still was more appealing to Gary. He shook his head with a small smile as Ash relaxed and backed the car out of the driveway, heading towards the beach to the south of the town where there was a particularly good ice cream place that he and his friends frequented after spending hours in the ocean.

The radio came on and Ash shot Gary a confused look. "Metal?" he asked in surprise. Gary nodded, keeping his attention on the road. "I didn't expect that," Ash muttered.

"What were you expecting – boy bands?"

"No, I just figured you'd be into the same stuff as Tracey… How did you even get into this?"

Gary shrugged and stayed quiet for a few moments before finally speaking up. He'd explained it once in detail to Tracey but to no one else – then again, no one had asked for an explanation. "I guess when you're going through a rough time, you don't want something mellow; you want something powerful to make you feel stronger," he said matter-of-factly. It was the only real explanation he could offer verbally. He doubted happy-go-lucky Ash would understand the way the heavy music had formed an outlet for him while dealing with anger and confusion. Whenever he was mad, the loud and fast pace of the music seemed to express it; whenever he was confused, the predictability of the music provided a form of stability; and whenever he felt weak, the raw and aggressive power gave him an indescribable strength.

Ash nodded and took the answer as it was with no further questions, remaining quiet for another moment before responding. "I started listening to Twisted Sister before big battles," he admitted.

Grateful that they had been at a stoplight when he said that, Gary laughed loudly. "Seriously?" he asked doubtfully.

"Yeah… One of their songs came on the radio before one of the battles at the Silver Conference and it got me kind of pumped up for the battle. That was when I beat you –"

"And you figured that it was good luck, didn't you?"

"Shut up," Ash muttered as a rather cute blush swept across his face. Gary had caught him on that truth but it didn't change anything.

Gary laughed again and shook his head. "I used to listen to them before battles, too."

Ash glanced over at him and regarded him curiously for a minute. "It's interesting," he began slowly, pausing with a small frown.

"What's interesting?"

"We grew up to be so different but we still have so many similarities."

"That's because we were best friends as kids – the similarities are there because of that," Gary pointed out.

"What exactly happened to that anyways?"

Pulling up to another stoplight, Gary rested his forehead against the steering wheel with a groan. "Why do people keep asking that?" he exclaimed in frustration; Ash fixed him with another confused expression. "Do you _really_ want to know the answer to that?" Gary asked, raising his head and continuing to drive as the light changed. Ash nodded and gave him a look that Gary took to mean something along the lines of "duh." A long pause ensued while Gary debated lying about the reason; finding nothing he could use as an excuse, he finally opted to be truthful. "I liked you," he admitted quietly.


	12. Explanations

**Secrets Told**

Thanks to licoricejellybean and Defiant Vixen for reviewing! By the way, Tracey will definitely be back next chapter – I promise.

Chapter Twelve: Explanations

Ash was silent and Gary had to look over at him to judge his reaction. Having been expecting to find a disgusted expression on his face, Gary was surprised to see Ash considering him curiously again.

"Please say something," Gary muttered. The silence was becoming suffocating and they were approaching the beach, anything that needed to be said was going to have be said before they got out of the car.

"I – What do you want me to say, Gary? That's not what I was expecting… Why?" Ash sputtered.

"Why what?"

"I don't know… Why did you like me? What did that have to do with us being friends? Just, _why_?"

Releasing a breath that he had been holding, Gary pulled into a parking spot next to a car that he recognized at his friend Wyatt's. "You're not mad?" he asked, rather surprised. Given the rivalry that had between the two, he had expected a far different reaction. Given Ash's hyper and childish personality, he expected anything other than this fairly calm teenager that stared at him as though he had grown a second head.

"No, I'm confused!"

Gary couldn't help but laugh at that response as he retrieved his keys from the ignition. "Let's get some food and I'll explain everything," he suggested.

Ten minutes later found them sitting on the sand with Ash greedily devouring a rather large brownie sundae and Pikachu inhaling a small strawberry smoothie while Gary nursed a vanilla milkshake as he looked out over the waves, trying to think of where to start. Seeing that Ash was more focused on his food than anything else at the moment gave him a few moments to collect his thoughts but the fact that several of his friends were out on their surfboards did not help matters.

Another few minutes passed by in silence until Ash set the plastic dish in the sand next to him and considered the older teen who was sitting next to him. Gary had barely touched his milkshake, as though he had lost his appetite, and was currently gazing out at the blue-green water with a somber expression on his face; Ash knew him well enough to know that he was deep in thought and it wasn't hard to guess what was on his mind.

"When did you realize that you were gay?" Ash asked quietly, effectively pulling Gary out of his thoughts and back to the real world.

"That's kind of a complicated question," Gary replied, forcing down a smirk as one of his friends fell off their board. He shook his head, sometimes his friends were idiots.

"How is it complicated?" Ash's voice once more brought him back to the conversation. The boy sounded puzzled and Gary could see why; it seemed like such a simple question, didn't it? It was general enough – just a simple time frame or event would be enough to answer it, right?

In reality, it was quite complicated to answer and Gary couldn't help but sigh softly; he knew that Ash wouldn't really be able to understand this. It was just something that you had to experience to understand; words simply couldn't accurately depict it. "It's hard to explain, Ash." He paused and took a sip from his milkshake before looking back at the ocean; somehow, he seemed to gain some sort of strength and comfort from the rolling waves that sent up a small spray as they crashed along the shore. The roaring of the sea had always calmed him and made him feel at home as he loved the water and was quite fond of water type pokemon.

At the moment, he needed all the comfort the scenery could give him as he knew that he would need more than just his signature confidence to get him through this.

"Looking back, I guess I always knew…" Gary explained softly.

"Then how –"

"I told you, it's hard to explain. It's like, in the back of mind I always kind of _knew _that I liked guys but I never thought about it or acknowledged it or anything. Then one day I realized that I liked you and…" He paused again and took a deep breath; he had always hated opening up to people like this and the topic of discussion only made him more uncomfortable. He opened his mouth to continue and suddenly found that he couldn't stop talking once he started. "I was scared and confused so I just started being an ass to you because that was the only way I could deal with it. Once I realized that I liked you, I couldn't see you as my friend anymore; all I saw was this kid that I – for some god-forsaken reason – thought was cute and great. I was afraid that I would end up doing something stupid that would make it obvious to everyone so I just pushed you away until you finally left me the hell alone, and then it only got worse because not only did I have a crush on a guy, but I had just lost my best friend because I was a complete idiot!"

Ash was staring at him by now, paying rapt attention, hanging on to every word because he knew how closed off Gary usually was. He could tell that Gary hated telling him all of this; the visible tenseness in his muscles and the slight shrillness that had crept into his voice very clearly indicated this. Gary took a breath and calmed down a bit, letting some of the tension escape him.

"Then we left as trainers and it wasn't so bad since you weren't around and I could just ignore it and focus on training and I guess that worked because I outgrew that crush. When I started researching – when I went to Sayda – I pretty much forgot about it since I was around mostly girls and we were all focusing so much on the work… But then when I moved back home and started working with Grandpa in the lab and hanging out with my friends and May and her friends… I just hit me really hard one day – May kept trying to set me up with her friends, and her friends always flirted with me, and then all of my friends were either dating girls or hooking up with them. I was just so _sick_ of it, so I started hanging out with Tracey and ended up… practically falling in love with him." His voice lowered a bit at the last part as memories of how they had gotten together came to his mind. A small smile crossed his face at the mere thought of Tracey and Gary laughed softly, shaking his head slightly; he was utterly hopelessly and helplessly in love with the pokemon watcher. "Tracey was great, he was the exact person I needed right then. I was in a really bad place; I was so depressed then… I was lying to my friends left and right, mouthing off to Grandpa, drinking a lot, barely eating… I even thought of killing myself a few times…"

Ash's eyes widened at the final admission, startled beyond belief that Gary, who had once been nearly as adventurous and outgoing as himself, could have been in that situation. Despite the way Gary had often belittled and teased him, Ash couldn't imagine him not being around; he was relieved that those thoughts hadn't evolved into suicide attempts… or worse.

He knew that he would have bitterly mourned the death of his childhood friend and the greatest rival that he had ever known as a pokemon trainer.

"My friends didn't even notice," Gary continued, his voice lowering even more. "Well, they probably did, they just didn't say anything – and Grandpa and May were either pissed off at me or were hovering over me, but Tracey was just _there_ for me. He understood and he didn't lecture me or anything… Once Tracey came into the picture, I just _knew_; there was no doubt. I was practically obsessed with him; I couldn't stop thinking about him and I just wanted to be with him – not just sexually either."

"How did you two end up dating?" Ash spoke up for the first time in the past perhaps ten minutes while Gary had been speaking. He was genuinely curious now, as Tracey had not told him the details and he was still rather confused about how the two boys had gotten together – they were practically polar opposites, for god's sake!

Gary glanced at him and smiled ironically. "I made out with Darren's sister –"

"Amanda?" Gary nodded, his eyes scanning the waves until he saw the friend he had just mentioned. "Isn't she May's best friend?" Ash asked, scrunching his nose up in an adorable fashion. Without even looking at him, Gary knew what expression was upon his face; it was an expression that Ash had always worn in childhood whenever he was confused about something. It was cute then and it was even cuter now and, for that reason, the older boy avoided looking at his former crush.

"And Darren's my best friend," he reminded the younger boy.

"What does this have to do with you and Tracey?"

A slight frown crossed Gary's face as he recalled the night when they had first kissed. "Things started getting really hot and Amanda was… Well, let's just leave it at Darren would _kill_ me if he knew. But I wasn't even into it; I mean, part of me really wanted to sleep with her just to make everyone back off a bit, you know? But I just couldn't… Anyway, I kind of freaked out because I knew she would tell May and I figured May would jump to conclusions about why I couldn't even get it up when I was making out with the hottest chick in Pallet. Tracey calmed me down and we… Kissed… Actually, 'kiss' is kind of a mild way of putting it; either way, it made things awkward for a few days. And then May gave us a _lot_ of alcohol at her birthday party like two months later. One thing led to another and let's just say that the hangover the next day was rather enlightening." He glanced back at Ash and gave him a faint smile. "By the way, Tracey's the one who asked _me_ out, not the other way around; so, no, I did not corrupt your friend."

A small laugh escaped Ash at that statement and it broke the palpable tension that was surrounding the boys. "No, Gary," he began dryly. "_You_ didn't corrupt him – just your sarcasm corrupted him!"

Gary's usual smirk curved his lips and he bit back a laugh at the response. "My sarcasm corrupts everyone, Ashy-boy."

"There goes your arrogance again."

"That tends to corrupt as well," Gary replied with a soft laugh.

"You're impossible, you know that?"

"Of _course_ I know that, Ash; I'm Gary, I know everything!"

Ash shook his head with an exasperated sigh, not entirely surprised by Gary's predictable response. He was quiet for a few minutes, absentmindedly playing with Pikachu while Gary remained focused on watching his friends in the water. "I still can't believe you liked me," he spoke up quietly after several moments. Gary frowned and glanced over at him but said nothing in return; the only indication that he had even heard Ash was the slight change in facial expression. "It's just really weird…"

The last word sent a spark of anger through Gary as he finally pulled his gaze away from the water. "Weird?" he snapped. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I didn't mean that you were weird because you're gay; I just meant that I don't get it –"

"Of course you don't get it, Ash! You're straight – straight people don't understand these things!"

"For god's sake, Gary, you're so full of shit." The minute it escaped his mouth, Ash regretted it; partially because he was the type of person who hated saying bad things about others, but part of it had to do with the fact of whom he was talking to. Whether or not Ash had returned the romantic feelings Gary had felt for him in their youth, he had always yearned for their friendship to be reinstated. Unfortunately, snapping at him was understandably not the correct way to go about resurrecting an old friendship that had turned sour for one reason or another.

Shocked not only by the uncharacteristic snap but also by the highly unusual curse, Gary found himself unable to immediately find a reply. It caught him completely off-guard with how staggeringly abnormal it was.

"Do you honestly think you're the only one who's ever wanted someone they couldn't have?" Ash continued. He had already apparently insulted and shocked Gary so he figured he may as well make his point. "Or that you're the only person that's ever been misunderstood? Seriously, think about it for a minute!"

Gary shook his head in annoyance at Ash's words, immediately dismissing them. "You don't know the shit I've been through in the past few years, Ash, so don't even start."

"Maybe you should take your own advice," Ash replied in a quiet voice so as to not attract attention from the other beachgoers. "I'm not discounting anything you've had to deal with – I know the way the world works as well as you do! I know people have issues with gays in general, much less an atheist pokemon researcher who's into heavy metal who just happens to be gay. You liked me? I liked your sister, I've liked all the girls I've traveled with! I'm not one to complain about crushes because then I'd be a hypocrite!" That particular bit of insight caught Gary's attention and Ash could tell that he wasn't necessarily instantly rejecting his words anymore. He had hit home and he could tell that he had done so just by taking in Gary's closed-off, yet mildly surprised, expression. Hoping that he was reading the surprised expression correctly, Ash pushed on. "Yeah, Gary, I've actually grown up; I can think on my own now –"

"I never said you couldn't," Gary interrupted. He knew that Ash could be rather simple at times but there had always been a spark of intelligence, or at least an ability to think on his feet – there was, after all, a reason behind that crush.

"Yeah, well, your teasing kind of always said otherwise."

"I already told you _why_ I teased you in the first place!"

Ash groaned and picked up his discarded dish. "Why are we even arguing over this?" he asked tiredly.

"Because you started it," Gary replied flatly.

"I'm done, Gary," Ash said, standing up and allowing Pikachu to hop up onto his shoulder. "I'm going back home." With that said, he turned and walked away from his former rival, leaving him to stew in his own thoughts without interruption. He still couldn't understand how Tracey could be so in love with him; Gary may have changed a bit over the years, but he would never cease being that snarky rival in Ash's eyes.


	13. Ideas

**Secrets Told**

Thanks as always to licoricejellybean for reviewing – a prequel sounds like a good idea! I think I might do that when I finish this story, I'm hoping to do a few more Gary/Tracey fics as well as some palletshipping ones. I'm glad Ash's maturity was believable as well!

Thanks as well to Defiant Vixen! I'm glad you liked the explanations and bickering : ) As far as a flashback goes…. I'm definitely going to prequel now – my two best reviewers have suggested something about seeing how Tracey and Gary got together, so I have to now!

This fic's going to wrap up in a few more chapters and I'm planning on doing both a sequel and a prequel. Whichever one I decide to do first, I'll post the first chapter of it at the same time I post the last chapter of this one.

Chapter Thirteen: Ideas

Tracey set down his sketch book next to him with a soft sigh as he looked out over the ranch. Dusk was settling around Pallet Town, finally giving the residents a break from the intense summer heat and the glaring sun; only a few pokemon were still out on the ranch while Tracey sat under a tree absentmindedly doodling to relax after the long day of working in the lab. It was steadily growing darker but he remained rather indifferent to the descending nightfall; if anyone needed him, they would know where to find him. This was, after all, his favorite spot in the whole town: the enormous ancient oak tree that grew on a slope that led down to one of the lakes of the ranch. Lately, it had seemingly turned into Gary's favorite place to make out with him, not that Tracey minded – the setting was peaceful and rather well sheltered from the view of the house or the lab, not to mention he was thrilled that his boyfriend was now so open with kissing him.

At the thought of the shared kisses that had occurred in this same location, a faint smile danced across Tracey's lips. Leaning back against the tree behind him, he closed his eyes, taking the chance to inhale the scent of the wildflowers that grew unhindered in the field off to his left. He could tell that tonight would be a beautiful night. It was a pity that no one was out here to share it with him.

Almost as soon as that thought crossed his mind, he could hear footsteps crunching over the burnt grass and fallen leaves that littered the ground. Turning to peer around the tree, he found Gary approaching him with a bit of hesitation in his step; he obviously suspected, rightly so, that Tracey had heard about the squabble between him and Ash. Glancing Gary over, Tracey couldn't help but smile as he noticed that his boyfriend had changed into boardshorts and a t-shirt while his hair was a bit damp and messy, as it usually was whenever he returned from the beach. Knowing that he normally kept a spare bathing suit and change of clothes in his car, Tracey figured Gary had run into friends at the beach after his argument with Ash. No doubt the teen had stayed an extra couple of hours to hang out.

Gary plopped down on the grass next to Tracey with a cheerful greeting and a quick kiss on the cheek while Tracey gave a soft laugh. "You're already in reconcile mode," Tracey observed, giving his boyfriend a knowing smile. "Have fun at the beach?" Gary nodded and Tracey let him go on about one of the other teen boys getting stung by a jellyfish until he finally fell quiet and looked at Tracey expectantly, silently inquiring about his day. "Ash told me about your argument."

"I figured he would," Gary replied quietly. "Mad at me?" Tracey shook his head and Gary couldn't help but be surprised – Tracey had refused to talk to him for well over an hour the last time he had gotten into a fight with Ash. "You're not?"

"Not really; you guys were tempting fate by being together for so many hours. I'm glad you two were able to get along so well as long as you did, usually you can't be around each other for two hours and you somehow lasted six before fighting. It's just that…"

"Just what?" Gary prompted gently, a look of slight concern crossing his face.

"I get along with your friends – why can't you just get along with mine, Gary?"

"Hey, I got along with Misty when she visited back in November," Gary reminded him. He could vividly recall the redhead's visit, if only because of how hard May had tried to hook them up during her visit.

"Got along?" Tracey echoed in disbelief. "Gary, you two bickered the entire time!"

"According to May, it was flirting."

"You're _gay_!" Gary quirked an eyebrow as if to ask Tracey what his point was. "Gay guys don't flirt with girls – they flirt with guys," Tracey pressed on.

"Trace, I've flirted with plenty of girls; how do you think I managed to hide my sexuality from my friends for so long? Hell, I've even kissed a girl!"

"Yeah, and you practically burned your tongue with how much Listerine you used afterwards," Tracey added dryly.

Gary rolled his eyes and huffed. "That was to get rid of the alcohol taste; Amanda was trashed, remember?"

Tracey shook his head with an imploring sigh. "Gary… You used something that is over twenty percent alcohol to get rid of the slight taste of a drink that you like as well. Even though you're not even old enough to drink it as it is!" he added as an afterthought.

Gary gave a small shrug, not particularly caring about the details of the event he had described to Ash earlier that day. It wasn't as though he could regret making out with his best friend's older sister, not when it led to furthering his relationship with Tracey. Nevertheless, the memory was uncomfortable despite the fact that neither his sister nor his best friend had ever brought it up, indicating that the older girl hadn't told either of them. Gary had to admit he was rather grateful for that.

"You don't even care about that, do you?" Tracey's soft and calm voice inquired, pulling Gary out of his thoughts.

"Is being psychic a prerequisite for being a pokemon watcher?" Gary shot back sarcastically. That boy always seemed to read his mind, it was a bit eerie.

Tracey laughed softly and rested his head against Gary's shoulder, smiling when he was pulled closer against his boyfriend's body that smelled so enticingly like the ocean. A hand slowly moved along his back before tangling in his hair and Tracey leaned back into it, nearly distracted from the conversation. "Nah, it's a prereq for dating you, isn't it?"

"So you admit it, huh?"

Another small laugh escaped Tracey as he looked up at Gary with a content smile. "Maybe," he said cryptically, sighing as a gentle kiss was placed on his lips.

They pulled away slightly and Tracey met Gary's eyes happily, noticing a hint a mischief in the brown depths. "Then what am I thinking right now?" he murmured against Tracey's lips, his fingers still toying with the other boy's hair in a way that made Tracey what to purr.

Forcing himself to focus on the question, he shook his head slightly until Gary took the hint and let his hand move down to rest at the back of his neck. "You want to have sex, then cuddle, then go eat. And have a shower somewhere in there – maybe have sex in the shower and dry each other off instead of cuddling. Food afterwards, either way."

Gary laughed and brushed his nose against Tracey's. "You really are psychic."

"No, you're a teenage boy – you either want sex or food, both if possible."

"And what about you, Trace?"

He smiled and pressed a small kiss to Gary's lips, pulling back quickly when Gary tried to deepen it. "I'm not a teenager anymore, Gary – I'm almost twenty-one now."

Gary crossed his arms across his chest and scowled playfully. "Pedophile," he muttered.

Tracey gave a short, surprised laugh and shook his head with a slight roll of the eyes. "Sure, Gary, whatever you say."

"It's true," Gary pressed, causing Tracey to shake his head once more. "I was only seventeen when we started dating – you were already nineteen!"

"Gary, we started dating three months before your eighteenth birthday."

"Isn't that statutory rape?"

"Gary," Tracey began beseechingly.

"Technically it is."

"Not when the older one is on the bottom, you pain."

Gary tilted his head to one side, as though he was about to comment on Tracey's word choice but thought better of it as he suddenly stood up. "Come on, let's go inside," he said as he pulled Tracey to his feet.

"Teenage hormones," Tracey complained playfully, rolling his eyes as Gary led him up towards the house.

Gary gave a small chuckle and affectionately squeezed Tracey's hand. "It's okay, Trace, you can rape me anytime," he teased.

"Well, there's the light at the end of the tunnel," Tracey replied dryly. "Here I was, under the impression that you would never let me top you."

"I was kidding."

"I wasn't."

They were quiet as they approached the house while darkness fell around them and the ranch, simply walking hand in hand and enjoying the simple but meaningful gesture. As they entered the house through the backdoor, Tracey frowned slightly when part of their earlier conversation popped into his head, reminding him that one of his best friends was still ignorant to his relationship with the young researcher. Sighing softly, he knew Gary was not going to be thrilled with what he was going to say or suggest.

"You know," he began softly, with a small amount of trepidation in his voice. "We're going to have to tell Misty at some point soon."

Gary groaned and rolled his eyes. Couldn't they just wait until she decided to visit next – sometime perhaps three or four months down the line – and just kiss in front of her or something simple like that? He had a feeling that Tracey was actually going to sit down with her and tell her everything. One thing was for sure: this was going to be the final formal 'coming out' incident. After Misty knew, Gary couldn't care less how anyone else found out.

"Fine," he agreed reluctantly, allowing his tone to clearly indicate how displeased he really was.

Tracey smiled, though he knew that Gary was annoyed, he also knew that he had won. He couldn't wait to tell Misty; she had been the hardest person to keep the secret from as she was actually closer to him than Ash was. Maybe, if he planned it right, he could get Misty to stop by with Brock before Ash went back to the Sinnoh region for his competition. Then maybe the three trainers would decide to trek back to Sinnoh together and he could tag along, dragging his boyfriend along behind him. It could be fun – a little adventure never hurt anyone, right? And he was dying to get out of the lab to see some truly wild pokemon, even get in a battle or two; or, better yet, see Gary battle.

Now that he thought of it, he had to tell Brock as well, seeing as he had become quite good friends with the gym leader. If he and Misty came at the same time, they would be killing two bird with one stone by telling them at the same time.

A grin graced his lips as he thought it over. It was a good idea, he figured, if he could just get his stubborn boyfriend to go along with it.


	14. Revelation

**Secrets Told**

Thanks to licoricejellybean and Defiant Vixen as always! You guys are awesome!

Sorry for taking so long to update, I've been super busy with work and I've been trying to move along the story line to BtW while dealing with _major_ writer's block. Enjoy and, as always, please review! Next chapter should be up very soon!

Chapter Fourteen: Revelation

It was now mid-August and Pallet Town had reached the hottest point of the summer season – merely stepping outside could make one break into a sweat, but there was something in the breeze that promised cooler weather and more comfortable times. Or maybe it was just that Tracey knew Gary would be returning home soon while Misty and Brock would be arriving as well. Two months had passed since Gary and Ash had gotten into their fight on the beach and, since then, Ash had stayed around Pallet to train for his upcoming competition in the Sinnoh region while Gary had gone to the Orange Islands for three weeks to help Professor Ivy and some other well-known professors tag and track Sharpedo in the tropical waters. With everything going on in the Pewter and Cerulean City gyms, Misty and Brock had been unable to leave for Pallet until only a few days prior, which meant that their arrival would correspond with Gary's.

Despite a definite happiness that arose in Tracey, he was rather nervous as Gary tended to be exhausted after these trips, making him rather unpleasant to be around. Tracey didn't doubt that the presence of his and Ash's close friends would set off Gary in some way and he hoped that everything went well. He only had one opportunity to break the news of his relationship to Misty and Brock and the last thing he wanted was Gary interfering and thus turning the situation even more awkward. The fear that his boyfriend would screw this up was topped by the fear that his friends would be angry with him, or worse, would feel that his relationship with Gary was unhealthy and would try talking him into calling it off.

This was perhaps the worst part about dating the young researcher – the people close to Tracey generally didn't know Gary particularly well and saw only the arrogant, sarcastic side to him. Tracey, as well as several other people close to Gary, knew that there was another side to him but few people really got to see it. He knew that behind that sarcasm was an intelligent, funny, sweet, and even playful person who was both loving and lovable. Explaining that to Misty and Brock could prove to be difficult.

With a small groan, Tracey stopped pacing across the front porch and sat down on the wooden steps, keeping his eyes on the road leading to the house and lab, impatiently waiting for both his guests and his lover. Eagerness to see them had made it nearly impossible for the twenty-year-old to sleep the night before and was now making him anxious, as was rather obvious from the way he had been pacing the floor of any room he had been in all day. Resting his chin in his hand, Tracey pulled out his cell phone and scanned the latest text messages, hoping in vain to find a new one. Finally, as he was skimming the last fifty or so messages from Gary, he heard voices coming from down the road; looking up quickly, he could see Ash, Misty, and Brock cresting the nearby hill that seemed to separate the Oak property from the rest of the town. Tracey's face broke out in a grin as he jumped up, slipped his phone back in his pocket, and headed down the driveway to meet his three friends down the road.

About three hours later, the four young people were sitting in the living room catching up with each other. Brock had just finished up telling Tracey and Ash about the recent renovations at the Pewter City gym when Misty spoke up in a curious voice, her head tilted to the side in inquiry.

"That's a pretty necklace, Tracey, where did you get it?"

Tracey's hand quickly went to his throat where he lightly fingered the smooth surface of the sea glass that hung from the leather cord. A smile curved his lips as he remembered the uncharacteristic shy expression that Gary had worn when he had given it to him; the teen had been particularly worried about whether or not Tracey would like it, and Tracey had spent several minutes reassuring his boyfriend that it was actually a perfect gift. Gary always seemed to smile whenever he saw Tracey wearing the necklace – which was rather often as Tracey only took it off to shower or sleep – and the thought of that smile made his heart ache; he missed his younger lover terribly.

"Actually," he began quietly, realizing that he was going to have explain things sooner than he had anticipated. "My, uh, my boyfriend made it for me." He bit his lip, worrying for a moment about the pending reaction while Misty and Brock took a minute to let the new information sink in. Tracey had intended on actually telling them with Gary there but he had no problem with jumping at the opportunity and he was sure that Gary would appreciate the move.

The thoughtful expression that Brock had taken on was replaced with a teasing grin as he nudged Tracey, who was sitting next to him on the couch, in the ribs. "Finally got a boyfriend, huh?" he asked good naturedly. "How long has this been going on then?"

Tracey glanced over at Misty and Ash to see that the boy looked a bit uncomfortable while Misty's confused expression had turned to a playful smile that matched Brock's. "Aw, Tracey! Why didn't you tell us?"

"It's been… awhile," Tracey admitted with a small laugh. A grin broke out across his face – this was going better than he had hoped. "And I didn't tell you guys because he wasn't 'out' yet."

Brock gave a small nod as if to say, "That makes sense."

"Does Professor Oak know about this?" Misty asked casually, taking a sip of her soda while Ash remained quiet.

"Um, yeah… Yep, he knows. He was one of the first to find out about it, actually." He wondered if either Brock or Misty would assume the reason behind that particular fact.

"Was he okay with it? I mean, his reaction must have been pretty important to you, right? He's kind of like an adoptive father to you," Brock pointed out.

"You have no idea," Tracey agreed with a small, slightly uncomfortable laugh. "He was really good with it… Which, I guess, he kind of had to be, all things considered," he mused softly. Ash glanced at with an uncomfortable expression that the other two seemed to be oblivious to.

"So, who's this mystery guy? Come on, Trace, we need details!" Tracey laughed again; Misty had become a bit more girly over the years, despite the way she maintained her tomboyish personality. "What's he like – is he cute, is he nice?"

"Does he treat you well?" Brock interjected with a very pointed look that made Tracey smile. He wasn't surprised that it had been the older male to ask this question.

"He's the sweetest guy I know," Tracey replied honestly. Ash's startled expression didn't escape his notice; Tracey had been quick to notice that the boy was still uncomfortable with his relationship with the trainer's former rival. Ash really hadn't said anything about it but there was something in the way he shifted his weight whenever Tracey mentioned Gary or the way he averted his eyes whenever the two kissed or hugged. "He treats me very well and, yes, Misty, he's very cute," he added while blushing furiously at his own comment.

Brock and Misty both laughed good naturedly before pressing on. "What does he do?"

"Is he a trainer, is he a watcher?"

"Does he work in a lab?"

"He used to be a trainer," Tracey replied, tugging at the cord of his necklace slightly. "He's actually taking classes at Saffron University to become a researcher and, yeah, he works in a lab."

"How did you two meet?"

Tracey hesitated before answering, unsure of how to reply; he was saved from responding when Brock cut off Misty's question.

"Wait – does he live in Pallet or Saffron?"

"Um… Pallet," Tracey said, shifting in his seat. Even with the small amount of information he had let on, it wouldn't be too difficult for his friends to guess the identity of his boyfriend.

A suspicious gleam crept into Misty's eyes as she pondered Tracey's replies to her and Brock's questions. "Is he younger than you?" Tracey nodded mutely. "How much younger?"

"About a year and a half."

"Which means, he's not much older than Ash," she observed, her eyes narrowing a bit. Tracey shifted his weight again under her gaze; he noticed that Brock had taken on a thoughtful expression as he seemed to be putting bits of information together.

As she opened her mouth to ask her next question, Tracey noticed her eyes suddenly flick to something behind him just before he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning slightly to see who was behind him, Tracey's mind went blank as a pair of achingly familiar lips sealed over his own in a kiss he had desperately longed for the past three weeks. It was over before he was ready and a soft sigh escaped him as Gary brought his mouth to Tracey's ear.

"Now they know," he muttered, pressing a small kiss against Tracey's cheek as he pulled away.

Without even thinking to look at his friends to judge their reaction, Tracey jumped up and flung his arms around his boyfriend, eliciting a soft laugh as Gary returned the embrace. "I missed you," he sighed.

"I missed you too but I need to go put my stuff away." Gary glanced at the other three people in the room before turning his gaze back to his boyfriend. "I'll let you handle them; let me know if you need me, okay?"

Tracey nodded as Gary pulled away with a sad smile and left the room as suddenly as he had appeared, leaving Tracey feeling a bit baffled as he turned back to his friends. Misty looked shocked, though Tracey had to admit that he couldn't blame her; Brock seemed surprised but a bit more amused by the expression on Misty's face than anything else; Ash was glancing back and forth between the three other people in the room.

"So," Tracey began in a cheerful but awkward voice as he sat back down with a dark blush spreading across his face. "I think that about covers it."

Brock laughed at that and even Ash grinned while Misty maintained her stoic, startled expression. It was Brock that snapped her out of her stupor by holding his hand in front of her face, palm up. "Come on, Mist, cough it up," he said with a grin that caused Tracey to frown in confusion.

"What?" Tracey asked as Misty seemed to come back to herself and focused on Brock.

"Sorry, Tracey, but we bet on your boyfriend's sexuality awhile back," he explained with a small shrug. "I win; you owe me twenty bucks, Mist."

Misty scowled at him and slapped his hand away. "I bet that he wasn't gay – I never specified if I was betting on him being bi or straight," she argued.

"He's gay, trust me," Tracey interjected with an amused laugh. At least no one was berating him for his choice of lovers.

An exasperated sigh escaped Misty as she reached for her bag that was lying on the floor near her feet. "You're supposed to side with me, Tracey," she said with a playful glare as she fished out the money and handed it to the older male. "And _Gary's_ honestly the sweetest guy you know? Come on, Trace!" Her voice had taken on a sharper edge that made Tracey flinch slightly.

"He's sweet to me, I never said anything about the way he is to everyone else," he replied defensively.

"Let's not start attacking Tracey for dating Gary," Brock jumped in, holding up his hands as Misty and Ash both opened their mouths to reply to Tracey's words. "Tracey obviously knows Gary better than we do, Mist; I'm sure there's a side to him that we haven't seen." He glanced over at Tracey before speaking again, apparently mulling over this new bit of information. "Actually, I think you two complement each other pretty well. Gary could use someone to mellow him out a bit and, no offense, but you could use a bit of an edge on occasion."

"Gee, thanks," Tracey muttered with a slight roll of his eyes, making the other three laugh in surprise.

"See what I mean?" Brock asked loudly, still laughing. He sobered up and returned to his serious tone once more after a moment. "You two do have a bit in common and I'm sure there's another side to this that we don't know about. If you say Gary treats you well, then I say good for you guys." He gave Tracey a warm smile before turning his attention to Misty and Ash as though asking for their opinion. Misty didn't seemed especially thrilled with her good friend dating the young researcher and it was obvious that she wasn't entirely convinced by Brock's words.

"I'm still not really used to it," Ash spoke up quietly for perhaps the first time since this particular conversation had come up. "But Gary does treat him really well, Misty. I've known Gary since we were kids and I've never seen him act like that with anyone else… That's how you can tell he really loves Tracey… I'm all for their relationship."

Tracey smiled gratefully at Ash's comments and cast an imploring look Misty's way. "Come on, Misty; you've seen me and Gary as friends, you know he's good to me, you know we get along. At least give us a chance?"

Misty met Tracey's eyes stubbornly, still seeming rather unmoved. Gradually, her expression softened slightly and she nodded in resignation. "One chance," she agreed. "If he hurts you, he's dead.

Tracey nodded in mute understanding; he would take what he could get with his redhead friend. A few short moments passed and the tenseness in the room began to dissipate as Ash and Brock began talking about the upcoming competition in Sinnoh that the trainer would be competing in. After awhile, Tracey breathed a soft sigh of relief; finally, everyone close to him now knew about his relationship with Gary and they had all accepted it, even if Misty had been reluctant. Now he and Gary could finally bring the relationship to the next level and he couldn't be happier.


	15. Understanding

**Secrets Told**

Thanks to Virgo Writer, Defiant Vixen, and licoricejellybean for reviewing!

I'm in the process of starting a side-story about Tracey and Gary going to Sinnoh with Brock, Misty, and Ash; it won't really be a sequel but will take place between some of the chapters and will probably be pretty short. Any ideas for that particular fic would be _highly_ appreciated since I would _love_ to make it adventurous and fun! If you have any ideas for it, please just review or send me a PM - I'm open to any suggestions!

Chapter Fifteen: Understanding

Gary sighed as he moved away from the wall outside the entrance to the living room; he hadn't exactly been surprised by the reactions this particular surprise had yielded. Brock's calm support had been the most expected of all three, given the young man's perpetual big-brother persona, and Misty's opposition to him dating Tracey was a reaction that Gary had pinned as rather likely. Of course, he knew that the redhead was just concerned for the well-being of one of her close friends – it was kind of sweet, in an obnoxious older-sister way. Still, it had irritated him immensely; he _knew_ he was a good boyfriend and he had always made a sincere effort to be the best boyfriend possible.

It was Ash's response that had surprised Gary – when he had realized that the trainer was in the room with the other three, Gary hadn't been sure of what to expect from him – yet, despite having no true expectations, he had been surprised. Standing outside of the room, quietly eavesdropping, not daring to leave in case Tracey should need his support, he had been shocked when he heard Ash speak so quietly and thoughtfully. The way his former rival had stood up for him against the fiery girl had actually touched him. People could believe what they wanted but Gary was no longer an untouchable eleven-year-old and Ash's defense of his highly valued relationship with Tracey, despite all of the issues between Gary and Ash himself, had earned the younger boy innumerable brownie points. Gary couldn't deny that the action had meant a lot to him.

Now that he could hear the conversation turning to a topic other than Tracey's choice of lovers, Gary felt free to head upstairs for a shower and perhaps a long nap. He had checked in with his grandfather in the lab before heading off to find Tracey, opting to leave the room for the ensuing conversation only because he knew how short-tempered his exhaustion could make him; the last thing he wanted to do was make the situation worse for his boyfriend by being a grouch.

After a shower that rivaled May's in length, he laid down on his bed without bothering to dress and fell asleep almost immediately. As much as Gary loved the research trips he often went on with the professors his grandfather was friends with, the nature of the trips took a toll on him – the past three weeks had been nearly non-stop work from before the crack of dawn, straight through the day, and into the night. Inadequate sleep, physical exhaustion, and the affects of spending so much time in the sun drained him and he didn't wake until a knock sounded several hours later. Still in a sleepy daze, it took Gary a minute to realize that the sound was coming from the other side of the wall behind his bed. Instinct formed from prior experience told him that it was Tracey in his own bedroom on the other side of the wall as their bedrooms were next to each others' with their beds against the same wall. Slowly waking up, he could hear voices from Tracey's room; apparently his boyfriend had retreated to his bedroom to hang out with his friends, most likely meaning that May and her friends had taken over the living room while he had slept.

"Three weeks apart and your boyfriend decides to sleep instead of spend time with you?"

"Misty, research projects take a lot of work – especially the ones in the field; he's exhausted," Tracey's voice softly defended, the sound of his voice eliciting a small smile as Gary sat up in bed and peered around his room to see that it had darkened considerably.

"We're exhausted too but –"

Gary stopped listening at the beginning of Misty's argument, having already grown sick of hearing it. He climbed out of bed, quickly pulled on a pair of baggy jeans and a t-shirt, and started to head towards the bedroom door before pausing for a moment. Heading instead towards the worn backpack that he had tossed next to his desk, Gary pulled out a small object wrapped in newspaper and contemplated giving it to his boyfriend now rather than later. He usually gave any gifts to Tracey in private as those moments were special and could be ruined so easily by the presence of other people, but if letting the other three see him give this little souvenir to his boyfriend then maybe the girl would back off a bit.

Tracey looked up with a smile when Gary entered the boy's bedroom a few short moments later, he was sitting on the middle of his bed while Misty and Ash sat on the floor playing with Pikachu and Marril, and Brock sat at the desk, talking to Tracey about something to do with pokemon. The little water mouse immediately bounced over to Gary and leapt up into his arms, squeaking joyfully the whole time, causing Ash and Brock to laugh while Tracey grinned and Misty kept her attention on Pikachu.

"Seems like Marril really likes you, Gary," Brock observed, looking pointedly at Misty as though he were silently commenting that the pokemon wouldn't act that way if Gary was a poor partner for Tracey.

"Marril and Venonat love Gary," Tracey told him as he gestured for Gary to join him on the bed. He gently pulled the water pokemon out of Gary's arms as the younger boy slipped between him and the wall, wrapped his arms around Tracey's waist, and pulled him against his chest while pressing small kisses against his neck. Tracey squirmed in his grasp and turned to give him a playful glare that caused Gary to smile; he loved seeing that expression on Tracey's face.

As Tracey turned back to his friends and settled in his boyfriend's arms, Gary slipped a hand into his pocket to pull out the small present just as Misty opened her mouth to voice a question that he was sure Brock and Ash were wondering about as well.

"What about Scyther?"

Tracey's muscles tensed slightly at the mention of his third pokemon and he felt Gary's embrace tighten while the brunette shot a glare at the redhead. Knowing that his boyfriend was glaring at his close friend, Tracey lightly ran a hand along one of Gary's arms until his grip slackened slightly and he lowered his head to place a gentle kiss against his cheek with a soft apology.

"Scyther died almost a year ago," Tracey replied softly, realizing now that he had never told any of his three friends. The atmosphere in the room immediately changed as the three offered sympathetic words that caused Tracey to smile a bit sadly. A moment later, Misty commented on how hard the death must have been on him and he nodded solemnly. "I don't know how I would've handled it if it wasn't for Gary," he admitted as he slipped one of his hands into Gary's.

Gary squeezed his hand gently, silently reassuring Tracey that he was there and would be there no matter what. He remembered that day clearly and could recall the fact that he had nearly told his grandfather about their relationship that night. Tracey leaned back against him and glanced up to meet his eyes sadly, something that made Gary's heart clench as he squeezed his hand again. The bedroom door opened suddenly and everyone looked up as May peered into the room with her normal cheerful smile.

"Wow, you guys sure seem happy today," she observed in a happy yet sarcastic tone. "Grandpa got a ton of pizza for dinner, so you'd better get downstairs."

Misty and Ash stood up slowly as she left while Brock simply stared after her until Misty hit him in the back of the head; Tracey started to stand but was pulled back down by Gary. "Go on, guys, we'll meet you in the kitchen in a minute," Gary said. Brock and Ash left with no problem but Misty lingered a moment longer until Ash led her out of the room by the hand.

"Are you alright?" Gary asked softly as he leaned back against the wall with Tracey still in his arms. His boyfriend nodded slowly with his eyes closed, giving Gary the distinct impression that the sudden mention of the old bug-type pokemon had upset him more than he was letting on. "You sure?" he pressed gently as Tracey turned in his arms and buried his face in his shoulder.

"I'm sure," Tracey muttered and kissed his neck. He couldn't help but laugh quietly at the slight shudder that went through Gary at the gentle contact, his neck was undoubtedly the most sensitive place on his body and Tracey knew that better than anyone else.

They stayed like that for a minute or two before Gary shifted his weight enough to pull out the newspaper-wrapped object that he had intended to give Tracey when he entered the room. "Hey," he said softly, gently pushing Tracey away from him so that he could see his boyfriend's face. "I found something for you down there." He put the small in Tracey's hands and couldn't help the shy smile that curved his lips – for some reason, he always worried whether or not his boyfriend would like the little presents he brought back for him.

"You spoil me," Tracey smiled, reaching up to lightly stroke Gary's cheek.

"Open it," Gary replied, turning his head slightly to kiss Tracey's hand.

Tracey turned his attention to the fairly small package and carefully turned it over in his hands, trying to figure out what it was before he opened it. It had been in Gary's pocket so that automatically eliminated anything fragile and it was too heavy to be a shark tooth or piece of coral. Unsure of what it could possibly be, he delicately pulled back the newspaper and gasped softly when he saw a chunk of glittering red – a Staryu core, or a piece of it, really. "Gary," he whispered in surprise as he ran his fingers over the smooth surface, careful to avoid the jagged edges where it had obviously been broken. "Where did you find this?"

"Between Mandarin and Sunburst Island. We had to dive to tag some of the Sharpedos but they got aggressive because of all the bait in the water so we went to the bottom until they calmed down. I found a bunch of other pieces next to a reef but, uh, there was a Tentacruel… Let's just say it's a good thing I had a dive knife with me." Tracey immediately glanced down at Gary's arms, scanning his skin for the tell-tale signs of stings, barely noticing as Gary shook his head. "It was my leg this time and it was over a week ago; doesn't even hurt anymore."

"How bad was it?"

"Bad enough that I'm not going diving for awhile – don't worry about it, Trace, I'm fine. Here," he gently set the jewel down on the bedside table and stood up, pulling Tracey to his feet as he did so. "Go downstairs, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Instead of headed towards the door to leave the room, Tracey reached up to rest his hands at the back of Gary's neck, leaning in for a chaste peck on the lips as he did so. "Thank you," he whispered as he rested his head against Gary's shoulder afterwards.

Gary smiled slightly and slowly trailed a hand down Tracey's back until it rested at his hip. "It's nothing, Trace – you know I can't resist spoiling you."

"I actually wasn't talking about that but, while we're on the subject, that's got to be the best gift you've gotten me."

A small chuckle escaped Gary as he lightly touched Tracey's necklace. "Better than this?"

"A close second maybe," Tracey replied, reaching up so that his hand closed over Gary's against his chest. "I meant thanks for everything though; spoiling me, being with me… Listening from outside of the living room this afternoon –"

"I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear."

"You're full of it, Gary." The younger boy simply shrugged and flashed Tracey one of his signature smirks, making his boyfriend roll his eyes and shake his head with an adorable smile. "Either way, I still love you."

"I love you too," Gary replied warmly, pressing his lips against Tracey's for another kiss, this time less chaste than the last. "Let's go downstairs while there's still some food left."

They left the room and headed down the hallway towards the stairwell where they found Misty waiting on them. She quietly asked to speak with Gary, eliciting an amused laugh from Gary while Tracey gave her an imploring look before sighing and descending the stairs before them, hoping that they would at least be civil with each other. Misty waited until Tracey was out of earshot before leading Gary further down the hallway.

"You've certainly got Tracey wrapped around your finger," she began simply.

"The reverse is true as well," Gary pointed out flatly.

"Tracey's one of my best friends, Oak; hurt him –"

Gary cut her off with another amused laugh and leaned against the wall casually, crossing his arms as he did so. "I see where this is going – the overprotective big-sister speech. Please. I've heard my sister and her friends give it to every new girlfriend that each of my friends manages to get – trust me, I know it by heart."

Misty frowned at the derisive interruption and glared at the younger teenager standing in front of her. "You're an ass, Gary."

"And you're a bitch, so we're even. Kind of fitting if you ask me; Tracey's boyfriend is an ass while his best friend is a total bitch – it works out in the end, doesn't it? I mean, I know that Tracey and I have a damn good relationship, despite my being an 'ass,' as you so eloquently put it. I can only imagine it's the same with you two, to an extent, at least. So why don't you just spare me – and Trace – the bullshit and get over it."

Gary turned to leave Misty alone in the hallway but paused as she spoke up once more. "I mean it, Gary. Tracey's obviously head-over-heels for you, if you break his heart, I'm going to hurt you –"

"Ah, the big-sis spiel; I was wondering where you two were." Gary and Misty both looked up to find that May and two of her best friends had joined them in the hallway. "Careful, girlie, you might feel protective of Tracey but you _are_ threatening my little brother. How about I give you a _real_ older-sister speech?" the woman suggested. She fixed Misty with a calm expression that Gary had seen her wear many times before hitting him; he tended to refer to it as her calm-before-the storm look and knew that it was intimidating even to him. "First off, if my brother is stupid enough to screw up with Tracey, I will personally castrate him – which is a worse punishment than your scrawny rear-end can offer. Secondly, if you hurt my brother, you're going to be in a world of trouble because I won't stand for it. Got it?"

The two girls glared at each other for a moment before Misty nodded jerkily, shooting a final glare at Gary as she turned to join Ash, Brock, and Tracey in the kitchen. Gary grinned and shook his head once she was gone. "Well, I guess that proves we're related, huh?" he asked his sister jokingly.

May smiled and playfully swatted his arm with a resounding slap that made him wince in pain and scowl at her. "Don't get used to it, Squirt. I kind of owe you for outing you to half of Pallet so consider that little sermon my apology."

"Apology?" Gary echoed in disbelief, not quite sure if he was hearing his sister properly. "Don't waste your breath; I've never been happier now that I can be open with Tracey, there's no need for an apology. Though I've got to say, the best part of coming out was probably just seeing you put Misty in her place."

He grinned again and left the hallway to join his boyfriend in the kitchen. Maybe after everything May had said to her, Misty would be a little less disapproving of his relationship with Tracey; maybe they could even get along now that they had made it clear where they stood. Either way, he was looking forward to Ash and his two traveling buddies leaving so that things between him and Tracey could deepen and become more serious than they currently were.


	16. Truce

**Secrets Told**

Thanks, as always, to Defiant Vixen and llicoricejellybean for reviewing! Sorry for the delay but between work and the latest chapter of _BTW_, I had a hard time getting a chance to work on this one. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long!

Chapter Sixteen: Truce

Early in the afternoon a few days later, Tracey leaned against the kitchen counter with a soft groan; he'd felt a headache coming on since that morning and it had since developed into a full blown migraine. A high-pitched scream from outside caused his head to pound as he looked out the window to see May and Gary splashing each other in the pool – May was still fully clothed and Tracey could only assume that her little brother had thrown her in, eliciting that screech that had only elevated his discomfort. A small laugh escaped Tracey as Marril, who was swimming near the two siblings, hit Gary with a weak Bubble attack, causing May to squeal and hug the little mouse while Gary simply splashed both of them. Umbreon was paddling in circles in the shallow end of the pool with Venonat perched on her back while Gary's Arcanine watched on from the grass nearby.

It was a cute scene, not quite typical for a Friday afternoon, but certainly not unusual. Tracey wanted desperately to join the fun but the fact that a triple dose of aspirin had done nothing to help his throbbing head kept him from changing into his bathing suit and diving in. Instead, he went to the open backdoor and stood in the doorway, watching quietly while Gary and May remained unaware of his presence until Professor Oak appeared at his side.

"He's been more cheerful these past couple of months," the professor observed, nodding his head in Gary's direction.

Tracey smiled and agreed. "I used to tell him that he would be happier if we didn't hide the relationship. I don't think he believed me back then."

"Typical Gary," the professor said with a small laugh. "Stubborn as a Tauros… Are you feeling alright, Tracey? You're a bit pale."

"I'm fine," Tracey assured him with a forced smile. "I just have a headache."

Professor Oak peered at him with a touch of concern evident on his face. "Let me know if it gets worse; you might be feeling some effects from being so close to a Poison Powder attack," he replied. There had been an event between a Vileplume and a Sandslash that morning while Tracey had been feeding some other pokemon nearby. He hadn't been close enough to be severely poisoned but the professor had warned him that he might feel a bit of dizziness or nausea later; so far, the only abnormal thing Tracey had experienced was his headache but the professor obviously hadn't put the possibility of poisoning out of the picture just yet. "You should go lay down for a bit – our traveling trio is supposed to stop by later on; Delia and Brock offered to make dinner for everyone tonight. You certainly want to be feeling better for that."

The professor left the kitchen a moment later while Tracey remained in the doorway for a few more minutes before rubbing his temples wearily and heading towards the living room to lie down on the couch. He distantly heard the backdoor close a few minutes later, the sound was followed by one of May's childish giggles and then the sounds of the two siblings racing each other up the stairs. A moment later, the bathroom door on the second floor slammed closed and Tracey could hear his boyfriend yelling at May. Shaking his head slightly, Tracey closed his eyes and tried his best to tune out the various noises throughout the house.

He fell asleep rather quickly and awoke rather suddenly when someone dropped a book on the coffee table in front of the couch he was laying on; blinking groggily, he looked up to find Gary grinning down at him.

"Didn't realize you were sleeping," Gary said a bit apologetically. He cocked his head to the side, a small frown furrowing his brow when Tracey groaned uncomfortably instead of shooting him one of his normal playful glares. "What's wrong?" he asked, kneeling next to the couch and brushing a few stray hairs out of Tracey's face.

"Headache," Tracey explained as Gary gingerly placed a hand on his forehead.

"You feel kind of clammy," Gary replied doubtfully. Tracey simply closed his eyes again and smiled faintly when he felt Gary's lips brush his forehead. "Haven't I told you to be careful around poisonous pokemon, Trace?" he teased gently. Having gotten too close to more than one Poison Powder, he could recognize the symptoms as easily as his grandfather could. "I'll go get you something for it."

The doorbell rang the second that Gary stood up and they could hear May's swift footsteps on the stairs as she hurried to let in their guests while Gary rolled his eyes. The last thing he needed was Ash and Misty annoying him as he tried to take care of his boyfriend. With a sigh, he hurried towards the lab to find a dose of the antidote that Professor Oak made especially for humans to take when exposed to poisonous attacks. It wasn't hard to find the medicine in the back room of the lab and it only took a moment for Gary to calculate the correct amount of antidote to give to Tracey. What did take awhile was finding something to put the dose in; in the end he had to run back to the kitchen to find a glass to pour it in and by the time he made it back to Tracey in the living room several minutes later, Mrs. Ketchum and Misty were already in there with him.

Delia was fussing over Tracey in her usual motherly fashion as Misty talked quietly to her friend; she glanced up when Gary entered the room and narrowed her blue eyes immediately at the sight of him. Pointedly ignoring the girl, Gary sat at the edge of the couch and helped Tracey sit up even though he was certain that he wasn't so sick that he actually needed the help. Tracey accepted the glass of antidote without argument and swallowed the bitter liquid, forcing down a gag as he did so.

"That's disgusting," he muttered, leaning against Gary while the younger boy rested a comforting hand on his back.

Gary laughed softly as Mrs. Ketchum entered the room with a glass of water for Tracey; he hadn't even noticed the woman leave the room. "You'll feel better in a little bit," he said, taking the glass from Delia and holding it for his boyfriend.

Delia lingered a moment longer, offering to fetch anything else Tracey and Gary might need before hurrying towards the kitchen when a crash echoed from that direction, indicating that someone – most likely Ash – had broken something. Misty sank down in an armchair facing Gary and Tracey, knowing that there wouldn't be anything for her to do in the kitchen with Delia and Brock babysitting Ash and May. Her eyes remained on Gary for a few listless minutes during which Gary's hand slowly trailed up and down Tracey's back in a comforting manner while Tracey slowly drank the water Delia had brought out for him. Gary seemed to keep a concerned gaze on his boyfriend while Tracey quietly assured him that he was just fine; Misty had to admit, albeit grudgingly, that it was a sweet scene. She couldn't deny that the concern in Gary's eyes was laced with love and affection.

Illness seemed to bring out a different side to people and it certainly brought out a caring side that she had doubted existed in Gary. She turned her attention away from them as Gary placed what must have been the fourth or fifth gentle kiss against Tracey's temple in the past ten minutes; desperate for a distraction, she turned her attention to the heavily worn paperback that lay forgotten on the coffee table.

"_Frankenstein_?" she asked in surprise before she could help herself. Tracey rarely read novels, she knew this from several years of friendship, and it was doubtful that Gary's prissy elder sister would read something so wholly gothic and morbid, leaving the owner of the novel to be Gary himself.

He glanced up at her with a mildly exasperated expression. "You sound surprised," he observed simply, quickly returning his attention to Tracey.

A small smile curved Misty's lips as she took the bait. "Well, you know, I didn't think you would do something like _read novels_ like the rest of us mortals. I could never get into _Frankenstein_, it was just written so…"

"In English," Gary deadpanned without even looking at her. Tracey shot him an imploring glare and shook his head slightly.

"I'm just surprised, that's all," Misty pressed, smiling at Tracey before smirking at Gary. Despite how little she liked him, she had to admit that bickering with him was entertaining; it kept her on her toes and she was certain that the reverse was true for Gary. "I mean, I half expected you to be into something like, oh, I don't know – the _Satanic Bible_, or something – being a Hell-spawn and all."

Gary laughed at that and lazily ran a hand through his hair. "Touché," he replied in amusement. Tracey stood at that moment and he quickly followed suit, frowning slightly in concern.

"I'm fine," Tracey patiently told him. "I'm just going to go lay down for a little while… Maybe take a nap while that antidote works. Stay down here, you'll just be bored if you go with me." Gary looked ready to argue but he sighed and shrugged it off when Tracey looked up at him tiredly.

"Alright," he agreed reluctantly. "I'll check on you in a little while though," he added, kissing Tracey's check as he smiled and stepped around him to head upstairs with a sincere warning for Gary and Misty to behave.

Gary plopped back down on the sofa once Tracey was out of his line of vision but kept a sharp ear for any sounds out of the ordinary; once he was certain that Tracey was in his bedroom, he sighed and rested his chin on his hand, gazing morosely out the large windows that overlooked the ranch. Arcanine, Houndoom, and Umbreon were all outside running around with some of the other pokemon including, much to his surprise, Ash's Bayleef. A slight smile touched his lips as he watched the animals play for a few minutes before turning to meet Misty's gaze, which he had been able to feel on him the whole time.

"What?"

"You're a lot nicer when Tracey's around," Misty noted dryly. Gary shrugged and snatched up his book from the coffee table, determined to ignore her as best as he could. "I guess he's got you pretty whipped," she continued in a more cheerful tone, purposely baiting him. He ignored the comment and kept his eyes focused on the pages of the book though she could see that he wasn't reading. "So, was that all just an act? Or was that actually the way you treat Tracey when you're with him?"

Gary finally glanced back up to find Misty absently toying with a lock of red hair, another smirk on her face. She had grown into an attractive young woman with a slender build and long legs that indicated she swam often – he would probably like her if he were at all interested in girls. There was a scathing remark at the tip of his tongue but, thinking of Tracey's warning, he bit it back.

"Why do you care?" he asked in a flat tone that he normally adopted when he was particularly annoyed and was trying to hold back. "You've already made up your mind about me." With that said, he stood and stalked off to the kitchen where he slipped through the backdoor and headed across the lawn to the ancient oak tree that was his and Tracey's favorite hangout spot. About halfway to the tree, he realized that Misty was following him. "You don't give up, do you?" he snapped, whirling suddenly to face the girl, his patience nearly at an end.

"You never answered my question," she replied coolly, seemingly unfazed by his harsh tone. "There _was_ a reason why I asked it, you know."

"And what was this reason of yours?" Gary asked, continuing across the yard.

"Will you just answer me!"

"Yes, that was real – are you happy now? That's how I always treat him; do you honestly think I would treat someone I love like trash?" Having finally reached his destination, he sat down at the base of the tree and glared up at Misty.

"It's hard to tell with some people," she replied as she sat cross-legged in front of him. "No offense, but you haven't really helped yourself by being a jerk all the time. You should at least be happy that Tracey has friends that care about him enough to be concerned with who he's dating."

"Brock and Ash don't have a problem with it, neither does my grandfather or Delia. Are you trying to say that they don't care about him?"

"Your grandfather lives and works with you two; I think it's safe to say that he sees things the rest of us don't. Mrs. Ketchum is good friends with him, she trusts his opinion."

"Brock and Ash?" Gary pressed, leaning back against the trunk of the tree with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Look! I don't have to defend myself for not trusting you before. Maybe I'm a little overprotective of my friends, but can you honestly say that _you_ aren't a bit overprotective of Tracey too? I mean, he had a headache and got a little too close to a Poison Powder and you were acting as though he was in the hospital. That's just a bit protective, if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you."

"And I don't care," Misty sighed as Gary rolled his eyes. An awkward silence fell between them for a few moments while Misty stretched out her legs and looked out over the sprawling lawn at the pokemon milling about. "It's nice out here," she said simply as Gary went back to the book that he had brought outside with him.

"It's even better when you aren't followed by annoying redheads," Gary muttered under his breath. Misty, to her credit, ignored him.

"To be honest, I thought it was kind of sweet," she said softly after a few more minutes passed in silence.

Gary glanced over at her with a confused expression. "What was?"

"You and Tracey. Inside. You've been great with him all week, actually, today just kind of…"

"Nailed the coffin shut?"

Misty nodded and laughed softly. "You're morbid, you know – coffins and monsters. I bet you like zombies too.

"_Dawn of the Dead_ is a classic," Gary replied with a shrug and a small smile.

"I have to admit, I did like _Resident Evil_."

Gary closed the book and set it down in the grass next to him. "I prefer the video game," he admitted and Misty laughed again.

Another small silence fell in place until Misty broke it. "You're not as bad as I thought you were," she admitted a bit sheepishly.

"Wish I could say the same about you," Gary replied with a slight smile that left Misty under the impression that he was joking. "By the way, sorry about May. She's the overprotective one."

"I couldn't tell," Misty said sarcastically. "Truce?"

Gary rolled his eyes a bit but extended his hand. "Truce. For now, at least," he agreed.

Misty took his hand and they shook civilly before her grip tightened, playfully testing Gary's strength. He winced first and withdrew his hand, glancing down at a still-healing cut on his palm. "How'd that happen?" Misty asked curiously.

"A Sharpedo snagged me when we were trying to put a tracker on its fin," Gary explained, grinning at Misty's wince.

"Is that the 'research' you were doing to get away from your boyfriend and sister?"

Gary nodded and began telling her a bit about his three-week stay in the Orange Islands. He was surprised by her interest in it, though he knew he shouldn't have been, given the girl's specialty in water pokemon and the fact that she had traveled through the tropical archipelago with Ash and Brock. As great as his – and Misty's – surprise was, it couldn't beat Tracey's when he came outside over an hour later to find the two still talking civilly, despite a few bouts of bickering over the course of their conversation. Joining in their conversation as they headed towards the house for dinner, Tracey couldn't help the sincere grin that spread across his face. Seeing that the two were indeed capable of being together unsupervised without killing each other made him all the more confident about suggesting that he and Gary join the other three on their journey to Sinnoh.


	17. Planning

**Secrets Told**

Thanks to Defiant Vixen, licoricejellybean, and riceandXDs for reviewing!

Good news!! Remember that little plan Tracey came up with for him and Gary to tag along with Ash, Brock, and Misty? Well, that is now a fic of its own called _Friends, Rivals, and Lovers_ and the first chapter is done and up! That's what took my update so long. : ) It's going to take place between this chapter and the end of this story (first chapter is actually immediately before this one), so it's sort of a side story, not a sequel. Check it out and let me know what you think! Suggestions for that one, as well as the prequel and sequel to this one, are more than welcome!

Anyone who has read my other major fanfiction knows that I _love_ slipping in references to bands that I like (or dislike in a few cases *cough*Slayer*cough*) – major brownie points to the person that catches the Iron Maiden reference in this chapter! (Think album titles.)

Chapter Seventeen: Planning

Tracey looked up in surprise when he heard a soft knock on his open bedroom door. He had just left Gary's room no more than five minutes ago in a bit of a foul mood when his suggestion of a trip to Sinnoh had been met with rejection; begging Gary to at least think about it, he had left his boyfriend alone with Umbreon to reconsider. Now, mere minutes later, Gary was standing in his doorway with his arms crossed over his chest and a poorly-concealed scowl on his face. Raising his eyebrows in silent inquiry, Tracey wondered why Gary was here so soon – he hadn't had enough time to think it over and Tracey knew that.

"What do you want?" Tracey asked, trying not to sound as put out as he was currently feeling. He hugged Marill closer to his chest and scratched the pokemon behind its round ears, eliciting a content squeak even though he could tell that the mouse was confused about the palpable tension between the couple.

Gary sighed and uncrossed his arms to run a hand through his hair as he entered the room, stopping a few feet before the desk chair that Tracey was sitting in. "I'll go," he said flatly, his voice devoid of emotion.

A grin spread across Tracey's face when he heard his boyfriend's reply. "Really?" he asked, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. Gary nodded and Tracey bounced up from his chair to throw his arms around him, effectively trapping Marill between them. An irritable squeak from the blue mouse caused them to pull back enough to give the little mouse more room as Tracey held him one-handed while tangling the fingers of his other hand in Gary's hair as he pulled his younger boyfriend closer for an intense kiss that made Marill squirm uncomfortably in Tracey's grasp.

Gary mentally smirked as he allowed Tracey's tongue to slip into his mouth and forced down a soft groan as the other boy's taste took over his senses. His arms pulled Tracey's body flush against him, unintentionally squishing Marill once more; Tracey drew back as his pokemon gave a small growl and kneeled down to set him on the ground to scamper out the door, presumably in search of Venonat or Umbreon to play with. Smiling up at Gary, Tracey barely had a moment to be amused by Marill's annoyance when Gary pulled him into another tight embrace, his lips crushing desperately against Tracey's. Utterly distracted by the sudden passion in the kiss, Tracey barely noticed as they made their way to his bed and was startled when he found himself on his back on the bed with Gary over him, still kissing him senseless.

Enjoying the feel of Tracey's body beneath his hands, Gary pulled back from the kiss just enough to allow his eyes to roam over Tracey's body, grinning as he noticed the bulge in his shorts. Obviously he wasn't the only one excited by this position.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing I came up here instead of Misty," Brock's voice sounded from the doorway suddenly, causing both boys to jump.

Tracey couldn't help but laugh as Gary lost his balance and nearly fell off the bed; looking over at their intruder, he quickly greeted his friend as he rested his hands on Gary's hips to steady him. He glanced up at Gary and saw sincere disappointment at the interruption reflected in his eyes. Grinning in amusement, he shook his head. "Almost had a repeat of that time your grandfather almost caught us back in… Was it March?" he commented. He could clearly remember a time that they had been in the same exact position, only to hear Professor Oak's voice worryingly close. Gary actually _had _fallen that time, leaving Tracey laughing on the bed too hard to help him up as the professor appeared in the doorway.

Shooting a small glare at his boyfriend, Gary stood and straightened his clothes as he greeted Brock in a tone that indicated he wasn't too thrilled about his arrival.

"Ash and Misty are downstairs," Brock explained. "Did you talk to him yet, Trace?" he asked, referring to the Sinnoh trip. He and Tracey had spent the past week planning it out and he knew that Tracey had planned to discuss it with Gary today, though he wondered if they had gotten around to that conversation considering how… distracted they had been upon his arrival.

"Yep," Tracey grinned. "Gary's going to come with us."

"That's great; the more the merrier! I was actually hoping to go over our plans with Misty and Ash today – I'm sure Gary would like to hear about them too."

Tracey nodded, ignoring the imploring look that Gary gave him as he stood up to follow Brock downstairs to the living room. "Come on, Gary," he said cheerfully, shooting his boyfriend a smile.

"I'll be there in a minute," Gary replied grudgingly, following them out of the room and instead heading towards his own bedroom.

Brock glanced after Gary in confusion while Tracey simply shrugged his shoulders and led Brock downstairs. "He'll be a few minutes," Tracey explained dismissively, having been interrupted so many times that Gary's behavior didn't surprise him in the least. "In the mean time, let's tell Ash and Misty that we're coming too."

They reached the living room a moment later and Tracey saw that Brock had several maps laid out on the coffee table, along with the notebook that he had jotted down his and Tracey's plans for the two-week excursion. Telling the other two that Tracey and Gary would be joining them went over far better than Tracey could have imagined – Ash was visibly excited and seemed so happy that Tracey was joining them that Tracey wondered if he had even heard Brock say that Gary was coming along as well. Misty was happy by Tracey's planned presence but seemed a bit wary about Gary's though she accepted it at face value and didn't argue.

Brock had just begun explaining to the two youngest members of their group that he had planned a "special adventure" for the five of them since this would be his last journey with Ash and since it was likely to be Misty's final one as well when Gary showed up. Knowing the cause of that particular languidness in Gary's step, Tracey rolled his eyes as his boyfriend perched himself on the arm of the chair he was sitting on.

"Cold shower would have been faster," he muttered quiet enough that only Gary could hear him.

Gary laughed softly, eliciting a confused look from Misty as he leaned against the back of the chair. "What's the fun in that?"

"What's the fun in what?" Ash asked curiously, looking up from the map of the western Kanto region that Brock was going over.

"Don't ask," Gary and Tracey replied simultaneously while Brock gave them a knowing look and Misty muttered something about teenage boys.

Ignoring the confused expression that crossed Ash's face, Brock continued with his description of what their journey would be. Upon hearing the way Brock and Tracey had planned to travel west toward the Johto region, Gary groaned, knowing that there was a far shorter way to get there.

"Can't we just take the ferry there?" he complained, imagining how much shorter it would be to make the trek to Cerulean City and take a boat ride to Sunyshore City. That path would take about a week to get there, at most, Gary figured – far shorter than this ordeal that his boyfriend had planned. Much to his surprise, Misty spoke up as well.

"I hate to admit it, but I agree with Gary there… This way will take forever –"

"But we'll be going through all three of the mainland regions, Mist!" Ash spoke up excitedly. Pikachu squeaked in agreement and Gary rolled his eyes at the way the pokemon agreed with his trainer. Umbreon would have never agreed with him on an idea like this and Gary took pride in the fact that, although his faithful pokemon would still follow him, she wouldn't blindly agree to anything.

"That could take us a month though!" Misty exclaimed. "We would have to climb around Mount Silver and go through the mountains straight into Sinnoh to do that!"

Reviewing the geography of the continent in his head, Gary realized that she was right. Mount Silver formed the southern end of the same mountain range that Mount Coronet was a part of and that mountain range was rather dangerous and could take a week – or longer – to get through. With a few still-healing injuries from his trip to the Orange Islands, there was no way Gary was going to go through all of that. Adventure was more than welcome in his book but this was pushing it. "I am not going mountain climbing, Trace," he warned, turning to look down at his boyfriend while trying to ignore the way Tracey's hand was resting distractedly on his lower back.

"Relax, guys," Brock spoke up in his ever-reasonable voice. "We planned it around the mountains – it's too dangerous and we would be cutting it too close to the time of the competition if we did that."

"We would miss the competition if we did that," Ash pointed out. Gary nodded at that; the opening events of the competition were three weeks from the previous day, which was Friday. Leaving on Monday would give them a couple of days in case anything delayed them.

"We're only traveling in Johto from New Bark Town to Blackthorn City," Tracey spoke up, causing Gary to look back down at him with an unreadable expression on his face. Gary was rather fond of the rather large city and the area surrounding it and Tracey knew that. He couldn't help but wonder if that was intentional or simple coincidence.

"Where are we going from there then?" Misty asked curiously, peering at a map of the Johto region.

"There's an overnight train that goes through the mountains to Jubilife City in Sinnoh," Brock explained.

Ash groaned loudly, obviously disappointed at the thought of taking a train instead of walking through the wilderness. While the young trainer whined under his breath, Gary peered at a map of the continent to see how long of a train ride this would be. Although it would shorten the trip considerably, he realized that Jubilife City was in western Sinnoh while they needed to be in the eastern part of the region. They wouldn't entirely avoid mountains by going this route and Gary wasn't particularly thrilled by this fact.

Almost as though he had read his mind, Tracey spoke up again. "We actually won't be in the mountains for that long," he assured Gary. "There's the tunnel through Mount Coronet – it cuts through the mountain, you know that." Gary glanced between his boyfriend and the Sinnoh map doubtfully, rather unconvinced by Tracey's words; no matter how many shortcuts they took, they would still have to trek across the region. He didn't bother pointing this out to Tracey, knowing rather well that he was smart enough to have figured this out by now. Something must have shown on his face because Tracey laughed softly and slipped his arm around Gary's waist, squeezing him playfully. "You just don't want to walk, do you?" he asked mirthfully, leaning against him.

Sensing a bit of tension between the couple, Brock held up a hand to prevent Gary from replying – he could tell that the researcher wasn't particularly keen on this entire idea. The fact that Gary had even agreed had, frankly, astounded Brock as he was certain the stubborn teenager would refuse. It was rather obvious that he was coming along to satiate Tracey's yearning for adventure and Brock had to admit that he found it rather endearing that the boy would put aside his own comfort and plans to do something that his partner was obviously dying to do. "There's another train that connects Oreburgh to Veilstone," he interjected, remembering a route he and Tracey had written down as a backup plan in case they ran behind on time. "We could always take that and then when would just have to cross that little peninsula; the Pokemon League is just across the bay from there."

"But if we do that, we miss out on Mount Coronet entirely –"

"I'm not complaining about that," Misty interrupted Tracey, earning an eye roll from Gary.

"What's the matter, Misty – got a fear of the dark?"

"Don't start," Tracey sighed, poking Gary in the ribs as he baited the redhead. "You two got along last night, can't you keep it up?" Gary pinched the bridge of his nose with a groan while Misty turned her attention back to Ash, who was pointing out different places on the maps to Pikachu. "I know you'd rather take the shortcuts, but is it too much to ask for us to do what _I_ want for once?"

Guiltily, Gary averted his eyes from the other people in the room. He knew he was being a bit selfish but he couldn't help it – he had been raised as a rather spoiled child: it was simply in his nature! Still, it was rather obvious that this was bothering his boyfriend. He leaned over a bit so that he was closer to Tracey and pressed a kiss against his temple, barely pulling away as he spoke afterwards. "Can I talk to you for a minute in the kitchen?"

Tracey nodded and quickly excused himself and his boyfriend before allowing Gary to lead him out of the room. Once in the kitchen, Tracey wearily sank into a chair at the table while Gary opted to lean against the table next to him with his arms crossed. Just by glancing at his boyfriend, Tracey could tell that Gary was uncomfortable and he was willing to bet that the wall surrounding his lover was about to come down for a bit.

"I know you don't want to do this," Tracey said softly.

"If it was just us and I had some sort of control over where we were going and what we were doing, I would be alright with it… I agreed to go and I'm not going to go back on that but, Trace, didn't you even think about how dangerous it is to travel on those routes in Sinnoh?"

"Of course I thought about it, Gary! How stupid do you think I am?" Tracey snapped, sounding hurt. Gary immediately uncrossed his arms and reached out for Tracey's hand.

"I know you're not stupid," he replied quietly, gently rubbing the back of Tracey's hand with his thumb in a manner he knew his boyfriend loved. "It's just that you haven't traveled through those regions and I have –"

"You've only been on four trips to Sinnoh."

"I know that, and I've been injured each time in the mountains."

"You get injured all the time here though! That doesn't mean the lab is dangerous –"

"I'm not worried about myself, Tracey! I'm worried about you, dammit!"

Tracey paused, a retort on the tip of his tongue as Gary suddenly drew away from him and marched across the room to lean against a counter with his arms crossed again. It was easy to see that Gary was distancing himself as, Tracey knew, he usually did before opening up about something emotional. Immediately forgetting his reply, Tracey stood and moved across the room to stand in front of the younger boy. "What's wrong?" he asked, studying his boyfriend's eyes which were now so closed off. Gary dropped his gaze to the tiled floor, his confidence starting to fail him as Tracey stood before him. A bit confused by the sudden distance, Tracey lightly touched Gary's cheek, gently turning his head to face him. "Come on, what's bothering you?" he tried again, adding a teasing lilt to his voice that made Gary smile slightly.

"I'm afraid of something happening to you," Gary finally admitted after a moment.

"What could possibly happen to me with you four there?"

"A lot of things, especially on those mountain paths – rockslides, avalanches –"

"In August?" Tracey pointed out.

Gary shot him an imploring look as he replied. "Tracey, please… I don't have a good feeling about that area in Sinnoh. I know the train systems and the tunnels are safe but the paths… It's just that if something happened and you got hurt…"

His voice trailed off before he could say anything else but Tracey understood what he was getting at with little trouble. "We'll go a different way then, if you're so worried," he assured him gently. "If it bothers you this badly then we'll find a different way… It's just that the way Brock and I planned took us through the Valor Lakefront and it's supposed to be really pretty there; I thought it would be nice if we got a chance to be there together."

A small smile curved Gary's lips as Tracey finished softly with a light blush covering his cheeks. "Adventure and romance only go together in those crappy books that May reads all of the time, Tracey," he teased. Tracey blushed harder and smiled shyly, refusing to meet his eyes. "You really want to go to the lake that badly?" Tracey nodded and Gary laughed softly, wrapping his arms around Tracey in a tight hug. "Then why exactly would you want to go with Ash and Misty? That would kill any romance before it even started, don't you think?"

"I guess…"

"Oh, stop sounding so miserable!" Gary exclaimed, shaking Tracey by the shoulders a bit. "We'll go for your birthday – just us and the little furballs."

Tracey peered up at him with a look of disbelief. "Promise?"

Gary laughed again and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Promise. I'll even pay the higher ferry ticket to take the Jeep over there so we don't have to worry about getting around up there."

A grin spread across Tracey's face as he hugged Gary tightly before pulling away after a moment. "And I'll plan something equally as good on your birthday – as long as you don't argue about the route anymore!"

"Change the mountain routes and I won't argue," Gary replied flatly, causing Tracey to smile again.

"Deal," he agreed, leaning forward to catch Gary's lips with his own in a sweet kiss that his boyfriend eagerly returned.

They headed back to the living room a few short moments later, both in much better moods than they had been in upon their arrival in the kitchen. As they sat back down in the living room, Tracey announced to Brock that they would be taking one of the backup paths that they had written down a few days prior. True to his word, Gary didn't argue anymore, staying quiet even when Misty deliberately baited him – though Tracey did catch a glimpse of the seething glare Gary had sent her way. Now, he thought to himself, all he had to do was get his friends to get along for that trip.

That was certain to be even harder than getting Gary to even agree to coming along.


	18. Changes

**Secrets Told**

I think this is the longest I've gone without updating this fic! I've been working on the spin-off to this one (_Friends, Rivals, and Lovers_) as well as a Palletshippy oneshot (which should be up by my next update, hopefully). After this chapter, I'm only going to do two more so this fic will end at 20 chapters – kind of interesting considering my original idea was a oneshot. As I already said before, I'm planning on a prequel and a sequel but I would also love to do more with this couple both within and outside of this particular storyline.

Thanks, as always, to licoricejelybean and Defiant Vixen for reviewing!

A brief background on this chapter – in the last chapter, Tracey explained to Gary that he wanted to go through the Valor Lakefront with Gary and Ash and everyone so Gary promised to take Tracey there for his birthday. Also, Tracey's Furret will be explained in _FRaL_, I don't want to spoil that part of the story though… Also, Gary and Tracey's later conversation talks a lot about their conversation in chapter 7, when Gary mentions that he would like to marry Tracey one day.

Chapter Eighteen: Changes

Thunder rumbled loudly outside as a heavy rain splashed down the windows of the Sinnoh hotel room; it was quite cold outside, not quite unusual for mid November in this part of the region. Despite the weather, the room was quite comfortable with a fire burning in the small fireplace. Umbreon was curled up in front of the fire while Tracey's pokemon were scattered about the room; Marill perched on Gary's shoulders and happily squeaking despite the way Gary rolled his eyes at it, Venonat peering out the window, and Furret – the newest addition to the team – was burrowing under the blankets on the bed. The couple was sitting at a small table with a sketchbook and a pile of colored pencils between them while Tracey sat with his chin resting on his hand, gazing at Gary with a content smile as he watched the younger boy focus on his task.

The weather had been fine for the past three days and the trip had been wonderful – a lovely getaway that served as the perfect gift for Tracey's birthday. Unfortunately, the one day that was tainted with poor weather conditions happened to be Tracey's twenty-first birthday, though the boys really hadn't planned much for the day. The previous days had been rather filled with various activities that had made the rest of the trip fun, if not amusing.

On the first day, Tracey had decided to try ice skating on the frozen part of Lake Valor – something he had never done before, but he suspected he wouldn't be too bad at it considering he was actually quite good at inline skating. He had been right in his guess but Gary had spent more time falling than actually skating and had eventually given up and chose to play in the snow with Umbreon while Tracey continued skating. The rest of the day had been taken up by the several hours they spent alone in their room with the pokemon inside their pokeballs while the couple was more focused on each other than anything else. The second day had been more fun since they had decided to try snowboarding; Tracey had been decent enough to enjoy himself while Gary, being used to surfing, had been quick to catch on and ended up being rather good.

Having not expected the weather to turn, they had spent most of the third day indoors and now found themselves growing a bit antsy since they had been inside for the majority of two days. Bored, Tracey had turned to his sketchbook and proceeded to draw for an hour or so while Gary decided to sleep through one of the _Alien_ films. After a late lunch, Gary had been more bored than ever and had resorted to doodling on scraps of paper with Tracey's colored pencils until his boyfriend decided to draw a complex picture of two dragons fighting for him to color. That had been well over an hour earlier and Gary was still intently focused on shading the picture with skill that had taken Tracey entirely by surprise.

Gary frowned slightly as he felt Tracey's eyes on him once more. "You're doing it again," he said with a slight smile, glancing up for a second as he switched colored pencils.

"Sorry," Tracey quickly apologized, blushing slightly as he ducked his head. "I can't help it."

"What's so fascinating about watching me color anyway?"

Tracey gave a small shrug in response. "I don't know, maybe the fact that you're absolutely adorable when you're concentrating on something?"

Gary said nothing in reply though Tracey noticed a small smirk appear on his face, causing Tracey to roll his eyes slightly. He hadn't meant to spark that typical arrogance by admitting the truth about why he hadn't been able to take his eyes off of his boyfriend for the past hour. It was true though; there was just something in the way he would bite his lip or shake his bangs out of his eyes that simply made Tracey smile because of how utterly cute it was. The way he would pause every so often and critically glance over his work was rather attractive as well.

Several moments passed in near-silence with neither boy speaking while the pokemon went about their business. The silence was eventually broken by Marill and Venonat when they decided to play once the water mouse figured out that Gary was too focused to give it any attention. Furret grew restless on the bed and came over to Tracey to curl up in his lap, relishing in the pets and scratches that he supplied the creature with. All the while, Gary continued to color while Tracey stared off into space, silently thinking, pondering the way things had been in recent months. Ever since May had caught them kissing in the hallway sometime in the early part of summer – was it late May or early June? He couldn't quite remember when exactly it had been but it was months ago now and, either way, he had noticed a definite change in his boyfriend during that time period.

Though Gary had always been sarcastic, stubborn, and arrogant to an extent, the early part of their relationship had been filled with moments of doubt and fear. His insecurities constantly came up from beneath the arrogance that often served as a mask for what was really going on in his head. There were so many times that his signature confidence would fade away entirely as he would fret over how Professor Oak and May – the only family he really had – would react if they found out. The fear that his friends whom he had known since childhood would turn their backs on him had been nearly crippling. He could cover it up most of the time but didn't always try to when he was around Tracey. Tracey was his constant confidant and was always quick to offer comforting words, a sympathetic ear, or a much-needed hug.

A bit later in the relationship, only a few months before it had been forced into the open, it seemed as though Gary's nervousness about his family's acceptance had waned, perhaps as a result of his grandfather's nearly-never-ending patience or May's random assurances that she loved her little brother dearly. Gary had grown less uneasy and wasn't afraid to kiss Tracey when no one was looking as opposed to only behind a closed door. He had steadily become more and more bold with their affection until they had ended up making out in the hallway, only to be caught by May.

It had become clear to Tracey, only a month or two after coming out, that those days were gone. Of course, a primitive part of him was sad that the exhilaration of trying not to get caught was now gone from their intimate moments but the fact that they could simply be open about the entire relationship made him perhaps the happiest man alive. At least, that's what he had thought back then.

Now he was noticing subtle changes in his younger lover that made him even happier. Though still stubborn, Gary didn't argue quite so much with everyone around him – before, he would argue constantly, even with Tracey, and it could become incredibly annoying rather quickly. Only a few months later, the arguments were far less often and were only about half as long as they used to be. He was so much less childish now and didn't act as spoiled as he used to. Tracey had even noticed a new patience – as had been shown perhaps a half hour earlier in the way Gary simply rolled his eyes as Marill bounced around on him as he colored Tracey's picture; months ago, he would have scolded the little pokemon for the exact same thing.

Perhaps the change Tracey enjoyed the most was the new level of happiness exhibited by Gary. Granted, that teenage angst was essentially what had brought them together and the close moments triggered by it had strengthened the relationship exponentially, but it had always killed Tracey to see a loved one so down. This new happiness was so much more… _fun_. Gary was constantly cheerful around him – of course, cheerful for Gary was far less chipper than cheerful for Ash or Brock, but it was still a welcome change. There was a playful side to Gary that had started to come out more often and Tracey found himself absolutely loving the little play fights they would get into, as well as the banter that would go on between them.

The love that had been there from the start had been growing stronger and stronger and Tracey often caught himself losing track of time as he watched Gary or sat around daydreaming.

"I love you," he said, surprising even himself with the suddenness of the statement.

Another small smile appeared on Gary's face as he glanced up to momentarily meet Tracey's eyes, laughing softly when he saw the surprise in his eyes. "I love you too, though I get the idea you didn't mean to say that out loud."

Tracey laughed as Gary smirked slightly and shook his head. "I didn't mean to say it all really; it just came out…"

"Damn, Trace – make up your mind already. You're breaking my heart here; telling me you love me and then taking it back."

"Isn't this the part where you claim that your mother warned you about guys like that?" Gary raised his eyebrows slightly as he glanced back up at Tracey, who froze for a moment before slapping himself in the forehead. "That was an Ash-type screw up," he groaned. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it was a joke – you just caught me off guard."

"It's still not something you say to someone whose parents died when they were a kid."

Gary casually dropped the pencil he was using on the surface of the table and pushed the sketch book away from him with a shrug of the shoulders. "Not to sound cold, but I was three when it happened; I hardly remember my parents so it doesn't really bother me."

A small frown furrowed Tracey's brow as he pondered Gary's unexpected response. It was a subject that had never come up between them before and Tracey only knew about it because he had once asked Professor Oak why he was the caretaker of his grandchildren instead of their parents. "Yeah, but still… I don't know how I would ever deal with something like that happening, it's hard enough living this far away from my family." He frowned again as something else came to mind. "One day I'll have to drag you down to the Orange Islands," he declared.

"I've already been there," Gary replied dryly, reaching for the colored pencils once more. "Oh… You meant to meet your family?" he asked as he realized what a trip to the tropical islands implied

Tracey nodded, a grin spreading across his face as he noticed a slight nervousness in his boyfriend after the comment. "It would be fun. And it would be a pretty good idea considering what you said on the day that Ash came to Pallet." At Gary's confused expression, he pressed on. "In the back room in the lab? When I gave you the stitches? You did mean that, right?"

"Oh, that. Of course, I meant it!" Gary exclaimed with an indignant lilt to his voice that Tracey quickly picked up on.

"Sorry, I just wanted to double check that you were still serious about that because it would really suck if you changed your mind now."

"And why is that?" Gary asked, genuinely curious now.

"You've matured a lot since then," Tracey said simply. He left it at that as he stood up and carried Furret over to the bed where he laid down and flipped on the television.

Gary stayed in his seat at the table though he had paused in his coloring while twirling one of the pencils between his fingers. After only a moment of letting Tracey's words sink in, he stood and walked to the bed to stand in front of Tracey with his arms loosely crossed over his chest. "I guess we'll have to see what's going on during spring break then, won't we?"


	19. Uneasy

**Secrets Told**

I'm soooo sorry about the insane wait for this chapter! Between school starting, being really sick twice, and turning 21, I had a really hard time writing anything! This chapter is very inspired by the last few days of my summer vacation during which my boyfriend and I did pretty much nothing but watch tv with his dog all day. Ah, the simple life… Anyway, this will be the second to last chapter; I think I'll start on the prequel first and hopefully get up the first chapter along with the last of this one.

Also, I have a new story up called _Evolution_. It's a Palletshipping fic and five chapters long but I only have the first one up right now so that I can get some feedback before posting the others. Second one should be up soon.

Thanks as always to licoricejellybean and Defiant Vixen!

Chapter Nineteen: Uneasy

Tracey slowly opened his eyes as sunlight poured in through the window when someone pulled the curtains open. A sudden silence filled the air as the television was turned off but he paid it no heed while he snuggled against the warm fabric of Gary's shirt. Realization of his sleeping position made him open his eyes once more to peer around the living room in slight surprise before remembering the night before. It had all started the previous morning when he had opened the package of late Christmas presents from his family in the Orange Islands to find a copy of the first season of Third Rock From The Sun – which he had loved watching with his family as a child. May and Gary had been surprisingly excited by the present, having watched it as children as well, and had insisted on watching it all day long and well into the night.

A sigh escaped him as he attempted in vain to stretch his muscles, accidently elbowing his sleeping boyfriend in the stomach, causing Gary to groan and mutter for Tracey to go back to sleep. Tracey sighed again and settled back into Gary's arms, ignoring his want to change into fresh clothes and get some breakfast. They were both sprawled out on the couch, Gary lying on his back with Tracey's head on his chest as the older boy rested against the back of the couch; he still had one arm wrapped around Tracey's shoulders while the other hung over the edge of the couch, still reaching towards where Umbreon had been lying the night before. A glance around the chilly room showed a sleeping May curled up in one of the arm chairs with Marill.

Now that he was awake after spending so many hours in the same position, Tracey found himself to be quite uncomfortable and unable to drift back to sleep. He'd had enough after a few minutes and got up, climbing over his boyfriend to stumble to the floor; Gary woke enough to glare sleepily at him before rolling over and going back to sleep. Tracey shook his head at him, wondering if it was possible for him to be any lazier.

"For god's sake, Gary, get up," he complained as he stretched. Gary had been particularly lazy lately, spending more time sleeping and laying around than anything else. Granted, part of it had to do with it being too cold to go to the beach, and another part had to do with several of his friends being out of town for the holiday, but Tracey suspected that something was up – Gary had simply been too quiet lately.

"You'll have to use Marill to get him up this early," a quiet voice muttered from behind Tracey and he turned to find May stretching.

"I'm very tempted," he replied with a smile as he glanced back at Gary, doubting that he was fully asleep. He wouldn't order Marill to use his Water Gun attack on his boyfriend in the living room but he doubted Gary knew that. If he did know that, he was unlikely to remember it in his sleepy state.

"Please don't," Gary groaned into one of the pillows on the couch, causing both Tracey and May to laugh.

"Do it, Trace," May giggled with the little water mouse perched in her arms.

"Shut up, May!"

"Play nicely, kids!" Professor Oak called from the next room. May and Tracey exchanged grins as Gary stood with a huff and stalked off towards his bedroom.

May giggled again and shook her head. "Someone's grouchy today," she observed.

Tracey nodded and watched as she headed in the direction of the stairs, most likely heading upstairs for a shower. Now alone in the room, he sighed and left for the kitchen where he found Professor Oak sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a copy of that morning's newspaper. Greeting the professor quietly, Tracey absentmindedly placed a few slices of bread in the toaster and gazed out the window at the snow-covered ground while the bread toasted. He was so lost in his thoughts that he hardly even noticed when the bread popped out of the toaster a few moments later.

He was worried, there was no getting around that. A quiet Gary was usually a bad sign as it normally indicated illness or something worse and his odd quietness over the past week or so wasn't the only strange behavior. Normally, Gary was a bit lazy on occasion but overall was unable to sit quietly without anything to do; lately he had been downright lethargic. No doubt there was something on his mind and Tracey wondered almost desperately what that thing on his mind was. Part of him was worried that the teenager had grown unhappy or bored with the relationship, no matter how unlikely that seemed, while another part was afraid that Gary had somehow slipped back into that suffocating depression he had experienced before they began dating.

"Gary's in one of his moods, isn't he?" Professor Oak asked suddenly as Tracey sat down with his plate of toast at the table.

"When hasn't he been this week?" Tracey replied tiredly.

The professor nodded slightly as he set down the newspaper on the table. "Point taken. Do you have any idea what's going on with him lately? He only acts like this when there's something serious going on in his head."

Tracey shrugged helplessly and pushed his plate away from him, having lost his appetite. "I don't know," he sighed. He racked his brains for anything that had happened lately that could possibly be bothering Gary and couldn't think of anything major. Suddenly, something popped into his mind. "Actually… I'm not sure how likely this is but it is serious…" The professor gesture for him to continue and Tracey gave another soft sigh. "A few months ago, Gary mentioned that he would love for us to get married one day." Professor Oak looked surprised but Tracey continued. "I told him that we both needed to mature a bit more and then when we were at Lake Valor for my birthday, we were talking and I said that he had matured a lot and that I'd really like for him to go down to the Islands with me." He shook his head suddenly and returned his attention to his half-eaten breakfast. "Never mind, I'm just jumping to conclusions."

Professor Oak peered at his assistant thoughtfully before smiling slightly. "Actually, when you're dealing with Gary, jumping to conclusions will usually give you the right answers." Having said that, he stood and placed his coffee mug in the sink and headed in the direction of the stairs, intending on getting to the bottom of his grandson's strange behavior.

As he made his way up the stairs, he was surprised by just how quiet the house was. He had grown used to the constant noise that seemed to accompany Gary's presence in the house – the bickering, the loud music, the television and video games, the constant footsteps on the stairs – and it was simply odd for the house to be this quiet, especially since it was now nearly noon. Of course, he figured Gary had decided to hide out in his bedroom but the hallway in front of his bedroom door was silent. A bit thrown off by this odd fact, he knocked quietly before opening the door and stepped inside the dark room, easily making his way over to the window to pull the curtains open. Glancing around the now sun-brightened room, the professor was surprised to see how clean it was; it had gradually turned quite messy after the drama involved with coming out had passed, as it normally did whenever Gary was happy, but it was now nearly spotless again and this worried him. The cleaner the room, the more unhappy Gary was.

Gary was lying in bed on his stomach, still wearing the black pajama pants and t-shirt he had worn the night before and was apparently sound asleep. Smiling gently, Professor Oak made his way over to the bed and gazed down at his grandson for a moment before shaking his head; sometimes this laziness irritated him but, right now, he found it slightly amusing. Regardless, he was still mildly worried.

"I think you've had enough sleep by now, Gary," he spoke up.

"How would you know?" Gary groaned softly a moment later.

"Because you slept half of yesterday and nearly all day the day before. You've probably had more sleep in this past week than you did last month!" The only response he received was an irate sigh that was muffled by the pillow that Gary had buried his face in. Seeing that this wasn't working to get his grandson out of bed, he tried a different approach. "Where's Umbreon? I'm surprised she's not up here."

"Probably annoying Tracey."

The professor smiled at the response; it was the exact one he had been hoping for. "Ah… Speaking of Tracey, I think he's a bit worried about you."

Gary rolled over at that. "You're just trying to get me out of bed," he declared, though a slight glimmer of an emotion the professor couldn't quite place showed that he didn't entirely believe that.

Ignoring the statement, the professor pressed on. "I can't exactly blame him for that, either. I mean, you've been sleeping all the time, you've been quiet; I somehow doubt you've even been out of the house in the past week… Well, except for that snowball incident – May was quite upset that you messed up her makeup."

"What are little brothers for?" Gary asked pointedly as he sat up with a slight smirk forming on his face.

"How did I know that would be your response?"

Gary rolled his eyes as he replied. "Because you know me too well," he said dryly.

Professor Oak nodded and sat on the edge of the bed, allowing a small smile to curve his lips. This was another reply that he had been hoping for. "True, and I know you well enough to know when something is wrong… _And_ knowing you like I do, I would say that something _is _wrong." He silently held Gary's challenging gaze for a minute after saying it, hoping that the teen would drop his stubborn nature without too much prompting.

"I've just had something on my mind," Gary replied dismissively, crossing his arms over his chest. The way he avoided his grandfather's eyes indicated that whatever was weighing on his mind was something rather important.

"Does this something have anything to do with Tracey?" Professor Oak asked. He figured it would best to just get straight to the point instead of simply hoping Gary would provide him with the right responses to bring up the subject.

Gary groaned softly and leaned back against the wall behind him with his eyes closed. "Everything in my life has something to do with Tracey in some way or another."

"That's quite serious. Your father said something like that about your mother and they ended up engaged three months later." The professor remembered perfectly well that it had been closer to a year between the two events but, of course, Gary didn't know that. He wasn't lying; he was just stretching the truth a bit.

"God, Grandpa… It's too early for this conversation."

"It's exactly twelve-oh-three, it's not morning anymore so it isn't early."

"It's early in my book," Gary pointed out as he stood up and crossed the room to pull some clothes out of his closet.

"Oh, to be young and have no sense of time," the professor replied dryly. He smiled as he heard a soft laugh from the closet. "Seriously, Gary, it's pretty obvious that you two are pretty in love with each other."

Still fishing around his closet for a pair of clean jeans, Gary rolled his eyes. "We've only been dating for two years," he replied simply, stepping out of the closet and heading towards the hallway. He shook his head slightly as his grandfather followed him.

"It's only been two years but the relationship has already stood up to being kept a secret – that's the hardest part."

Gary sighed as he stepped into the bathroom, which was still steamy from May's recent shower. "What is your sudden obsession with this?" he called through the door as he undressed.

"Ah… No reason."

"No reason," Gary echoed in disbelief as he turned on the water. He heard his grandfather repeat the response and shook his head; there was something in his voice that said he was hiding something but Gary had no idea as to what it could possibly be. Somehow his grandfather had caught onto something that had been coming to mind more and more often as of late. "In that case, can I please take a shower without having to yell through the door at you?"

The professor left the hallway and made his way towards the lab without another word, knowing that the conversation was now over. Within the bathroom, Gary's mind was spinning. How had his grandfather managed to figure out what was on his mind? Did Tracey suspect something? And had he _really_ been acting so unlike himself that he had managed to worry both his boyfriend and his grandfather? He loved Tracey, of course, and they had been living together for years now. They had maintained a healthy and loving relationship so was it really that surprising for marriage to enter his head? After all, same-sex marriage had been legal in Kanto for several years now.

His family supported the relationship and his friends, with the exception of one who had never come around to Gary's sexuality, had all but accepted Tracey into their fold. Even Tracey's friends were supportive and as far as he knew, Tracey's family in the Orange Islands was excited for the boy. So what was the problem? He was young and had his whole life ahead of him – so what if he wanted to take all the adventures the world could throw at him with Tracey at his side? But this was exactly the issue that was constantly causing his stomach to knot uncomfortably; he was only nineteen and, on top of that, he was taking college classes that would soon enough require him to move to Saffron City in order to complete his degree. Whatever came after that was free game for fate as he had no true plans.

He stood under the cascade of warm water for a long while, slowly relaxing even as he mulled over the many things going through his head. Finally, when the water was starting to turn cold, he came to a decision. His grandfather was older and smarter than he was, though he hated to admit the latter, and the man was certainly able to understand what he was going through. Maybe some advice or even some support would be helpful – if anything, getting this off of his chest would make him feel more at ease.

Gary stepped out of the shower with a small groan; he hated serious conversations involving the sharing of feelings. Ignoring the slight apprehension he felt, he dressed quickly and headed down to the lab where he knew his grandfather would be, whether or not there was work to be done.

Sure enough, the professor was sitting at his desk, looking over a science journal with undisguised interest. He barely glanced up as the lab door opened and closed behind Gary and he barely gave any indication that he was aware of his grandson's presence even when Gary stood before the desk impatiently. Gary cleared his throat loudly, causing the professor to hold up a finger for him to wait a moment, which in turn caused the teen to roll his eyes and cross his arms over his chest.

"You're the one that wanted to talk," Gary pointed out.

"Indeed. You know that Professor Birch's team found out that Sharpedo –"

"I helped with that study," Gary cut him off crisply. "Look, do you want me to talk or should I just go back upstairs and sleep some more?"

"Does this have to do with our conversation from earlier?" Gary nodded slightly and the professor took it as a sign to continue. "Then talk; I'd like to know what it is that's been bothering you lately."

"I'm thinking of marrying Tracey," he blurted out, mentally kicking himself for being so blunt.

The professor smiled and leaned back in his seat to gaze critically at his grandson. "I figured it was something like that."

"How?"

"Never mind that," Professor Oak replied dismissively. "I think Tracey would be up to that particular challenge; after all, he's already mastered living with you and breaking up fights between you and May. I'm sure he could use a new challenge."

Gary shook his head at the comment. "Is that all you have to say? I mean… That's kind of a big thing to be thinking about."

"It is a big thing and it's not something to be taken lightly. But I know you: you don't do big things without thinking about them and neither does Tracey. All I can really say is that I'm happy for you."

"So…?"

The professor grinned at the hesitant question. "So you have my blessing on the condition that you go to the Orange Islands with Tracey this summer and meet his family. Whether you ask him before or after that is up to you."

A small smile curved Gary's lips as he nodded his head. He already felt much more at ease.


	20. Nervous

**Secrets Told**

Once more, my apologies for a delayed update; school is the antichrist as it keeps me from writing. This chapter was sooo hard to write; it went through two or three different versions before I finally found something that worked. I was going to do just one chapter and end this at 20 but I decided to do a two chapter update for the end of this story.

Also, I have up the first two chapters of the prequel! It's called _Secrets Kept_ and I hope that it is enjoyed. It's definitely going to be longer than this one but probably shorter than the monstrosity that _Beyond the Walls_ is (hopefully it'll be far better than that one as well).

Thanks as always to licoricejellybean and Defiant Vixen for all of your reviews. Thanks to everyone who has read or reviewed this story – it honestly would not have made it this far without the feedback!

Chapter Twenty: Nervous

A sharp sigh escaped Gary as he dug through the clothes in his closet, trying desperately to find something to wear. Why was he suddenly so concerned about clothing, he wondered to himself as he debated between two t-shirts. With a groan, he tugged one on and irritably left his room; this was a situation that required his sister, as much as he hated admitting it. Today was special, though he doubted Tracey realized it as his boyfriend had always been bad with remembering dates. It was exactly one year since May had caught the two boys kissing in the hallway; one year since they had come out about their relationship. Not to mention several months had passed since Gary had told his grandfather that he was thinking of marrying the pokemon watcher.

Quickly heading down the hall to May's bedroom, Gary knocked on the door, not wanting a repeat of what had happened two weeks earlier when he had walked in on May and her boyfriend in a compromising position. After that particular event, he hadn't been able to look his sister in the eye, although he had to admit that her boyfriend was pretty hot. He shook those thoughts out of his head when said boyfriend opened the door and stepped aside for him to enter the room.

"I need your help," he declared simply, crossing his arms over his chest as he tried to ignore the smirk that formed on May's face.

"What could you possibly need my help with? You're gay, you could conquer the world if you wanted to!"

Ignoring the teasing remark, he uncrossed his arms and fidgeted slightly with the edge of his shirt. "How do I look?"

May smirked again. "Like yourself," she replied smoothly. At her brother's annoyed sigh, she stood from her bed and began to circle him, critically glancing over the black t-shirt and baggy jeans. "What's so special about today that's making you worry about clothes?"

Gary shifted his weight a bit awkwardly, knowing that she would be far too excited to keep it a secret if he did tell her. Then again, she had been far calmer and more mature in the past months since she had begun dating the long-haired guitarist who was currently leaning against the wall, watching amusedly. "Nothing in particular," he muttered.

May stopped in front of him and gave him a knowing grin that left him feeling a bit confused. "You're going to ask Tracey today," she said, never losing that smile. Gay could feel his stomach churn at her words. How did she know that? More importantly, how many other people had she told? Something must have shown on his face because May giggled softly and shook her head. "That's what the bracelet is for, right?"

"What bracelet?" Gary hissed sharply, even though he knew exactly what she was talking about. The one he had made for Tracey, similar to the sea glass necklace that he had made him well over a year ago. He had found another piece of cobalt blue sea glass at the beach and, a few weeks later, a dark green piece; Tracey and Gary's favorite colors, respectively. He had put them on a leather cord, intending for the bracelet to take the place of an engagement ring since Tracey wasn't materialistic enough to want an expensive ring.

May sighed and rolled her eyes at her brother's question. Instead of answering, she grasped his hand suddenly and led him out of the room and down the hall, back to his own room. "The one like his necklace!" she explained exasperatedly, heading towards his dresser and opening one of the bottom drawers.

"You went through my stuff?"

"Just because you're gay doesn't mean you have to go into the dramatics," May said cheerfully in response to the irritable question. "I was looking for something, a shot in the dark that you would have any really, and I found it," she explained, locating the bracelet and pulling it out as she closed the drawer again. "By the way, why do you two use condoms? It's not like you're going to get Tracey pregnant." May giggled at her own comment while Gary groaned and sank down on the edge of his bed with his face in his hands.

"You found it two weeks ago?"

"Yep, same day that you walked in on us."

Another groan escaped Gary. "Please, do not remind me."

"He's pretty sexy isn't he?" she teased, leaning against the dresser with the bracelet dangling from her hand. Gary glanced up to glare at her as her smile turned into a grin. "You know, he also has a big –"

"May!" Gary pushed himself up from the bed suddenly and snatched the bracelet away from his sister before she could finish her sentence. The door to the next room closed suddenly and the two siblings froze as the radio in that room turned on. "Tracey's done in the lab…" Gary murmured, turning the bracelet over in his hands.

May's smile faded as she noticed an uncharacteristic nervousness in her brother. Glancing over his clothes once more, she left the dresser to close the bedroom door and then headed into the closet, groaning when she saw how much of a mess it was. "Geez, Gary… What have you been doing – living in here?"

"Not for the past year."

Glancing through all of the shirts hanging up, May allowed a small smile of relief to curve her glossed lips. She loved that joking side of her brother far more than the serious side that she had been seeing all day, even before he had decided to start worrying about what to wear. After several moments of holding up various shirts and trying to remember which ones looked best on him, she finally staggered over the text books, clothes, and whatever other crap was on the floor to toss the red shirt in her hands to Gary. Catching the shirt easily, Gary gave May a quizzical look, wondering why she had picked out a different shirt when he knew that she always complained about the jeans he was currently wearing.

Rolling her eyes, May plopped down on the bed. "Red looks better on you and the shirt you're wearing now is just a bit too baggy for those jeans. It makes you look scruffy."

Gary shook his head at her words but obediently changed his shirt. "I thought you hated these jeans." May looked mildly confused at his comment so he pressed on. "You always complain about them."

An amused laugh escaped May at that. "Gary, you need to wear the right shirt with them! For a gay guy, you have no sense of fashion!"

"I happen to proud of that fact," Gary mused to himself.

May rolled her eyes again. "You would be." She smiled at the new outfit and nodded approvingly. "Very sexy… And straight-looking, though we could always do something with your hair to fix that," she mused. Frowning slightly, Gary ran a hand through his hair, purposely messing up the dark locks and making his sister laugh again before she sobered slightly. "By the way, I didn't tell anyone."

"No one else knows?"

"Only family." Ordinarily, the smile that crossed her face as she spoke would have made him suspicious but he barely gave it any notice.

"Well, there's a change," Gary replied, leaning against the dresser with his arms crossed over his chest. "Usually you can't keep your mouth shut."

May, to her credit, simply shrugged her shoulders slightly. There was no way to deny that she had been perhaps the most gossipy big mouth in Pallet Town at one point in time, though it was obvious to anyone that she had grown up drastically. That was also discounting the fact that she had actually told far fewer people about Gary and Tracey kissing than her brother realized. Despite Gary telling her only a short while after the drama had passed that he was grateful she had forced him out of the closet, she felt guilty about it, even now. He must've been able to sense that something was on her mind because he tilted his head to the side slightly, as though silently enquiring about what was wrong.

She shook her head and forced a small smile. "Sure you're ready for this?" she asked softly.

Gary nodded, slipping the bracelet into his pocket. He knew he was going to have to suppress his nerves and get it over with. "Of course… Just wondering how exactly I'm going to tell everyone afterwards."

"I could take care of that for you," May teased, forcing down a giggle at the expression the crossed Gary's face. He seemed almost fearful for a second before appearing thoughtful, as though he were thinking of taking her up on that particular offer.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened and Tracey peeked in, appearing surprised to see May in his boyfriend's room. He paused in the doorway, taking in Gary's appearance and smiling slightly; though dressed casually, he was undeniably attractive and Tracey couldn't help but feel lucky to be involved with him. Still, he had to wonder why the twenty-year-old was wearing jeans when they had been planning on going to the beach.

"I thought you wanted to go to the beach?" Tracey asked, feeling a bit confused.

Gary nodded and stepped away from the dresser to approach his boyfriend, only to be stopped by his sister as she hugged him unexpectedly.

"Good luck," she whispered, pressing a quick kiss against his cheek before grinning and quickly leaving the room.

Shaking his head, Gary took Tracey's hand and led him out of the room and into the hallway, eager to get out of the house. Tracey trailed after him, feeling a bit confused.

"What's with May?" he finally asked, eliciting a soft sigh from his lover.

"She's losing her mind. Kind of sad, actually," Gary replied flatly. He knew Tracey could see straight through the sarcasm but it wasn't exactly as if he could actually tell him why May had behaved that way back in his bedroom.

--- --- ---


	21. Beginnings

**Secrets Told**

A quick note – remember in chapter 18 Tracey's Furret (which he gets in _FRaL_, I swear I will begin working more on that story soon!) appears for the first time in here? He shows up again in this chapter… Just letting you know so you're not like "wtf did that come from?".

Final chapter!

Chapter Twenty-one: Beginnings

The weather was not exactly cooperating. It wasn't necessarily foul weather; it was simply overcast and a bit windy, the latter being an unappreciated aspect on a sandy beach. Despite this, it was rather nice at the beach; the dreary sky had kept away bathers, leaving the shore nearly deserted with only a small handful of surfers on the waves. Part of Gary wished he was out on the water with the two friends that he could see from shore, the waves were rough from the incoming storm system but that always made surfing more fun. No doubt the waves would be even more rough the next day and Gary knew for certain that he would be out there, undoubtedly earning a few injuries that Tracey would be fussing over that night.

The couple was walking quietly, hand-in-hand while their pokemon played in the sand ahead of them. The sight of the animals running around together brought a serene smile to Tracey's face but he didn't feel particularly at ease – Gary was being too quiet for comfort. He seemed tense, as if something was weighing on his mind, and he had barely spoken since leaving the house; not to mention Tracey was still curious about the reasoning behind May's behavior back in Gary's bedroom. Tracey had to force down a soft sigh as he caught his boyfriend gazing out at the stormy water again; it was something that Gary did when something was on his mind and Tracey felt waves of uneasiness flow through him every time he did it.

Finally, he grew tired of wondering what his boyfriend's issue was and slipped his hand out of Gary's – a move that seemed to hardly register with the younger of the two until Tracey pushed him playfully.

"Snap out of it!" he exclaimed when Gary cast a confused look his way.

Gary smiled slightly in response. "Am I annoying you?" he asked as he pushed his boyfriend back.

"No; you're just acting weird," Tracey replied with a quiet laugh, reaching down to scratch Umbreon behind the ears as she bounded up to him with Marril on her back. Gary frowned slightly at that and, though he quickly hid it, Tracey noticed. "What's wrong?"

The only immediate response his question received was a shake of the head as Gary appeared to think about something for a moment. "How am I acting weird?" Gary asked him suddenly, sounded a bit irritated. First the weather wasn't as cooperative as he had hoped and now something in his behavior had alerted Tracey… He almost felt as though the plans were starting to crumble around him. He shook those thoughts out his head as quickly as they had appeared and took a deep breath – it wouldn't do any good to get annoyed over this. It wasn't as though the plans were ruined; it just meant that it was windy and Tracey suspected that something was up. No big deal.

"You're tense, like you're worried about something."

Forcing a smile, Gary turned to face Tracey and placed his hands on Tracey's hips. "What could I possibly be worried about?" he asked, allowing a teasing lilt to enter his voice.

Hearing the light tone of his voice relaxed Tracey a bit and he smiled. "I don't know; you tell me," he replied, mimicking Gary's teasing tone.

This time Gary's grin was true as he pressed a kiss against Tracey's lips. "Maybe I'm just having second thoughts about moving away for school in August," he reassured him, kissing him once more before pulling away slightly. "Or maybe I'm planning on doing something and I'm worried about your reaction." Gary gave Tracey an enigmatic smile and turned to continue walking, leaving his boyfriend standing by himself for a moment as he tried to figure out what he meant.

Tracey frowned as he watched Gary continue walking, pausing to pet Marril as the mouse squeaked cheerfully at him, wondering what on Earth his boyfriend could have meant by his last statement. His tone had remained light and teasing, though his eyes had been serious not only when he had said the latter bit, but also when he mentioned school. Part of Tracey wondered if Gary was thinking of going somewhere other than Saffron City for school in August while another part of him wondered something else that made his stomach flip. Could that plan possibly include a question that he had been hoping the boy would ask sometime soon? Or was there something else going on, something that he had overlooked sometime in the past few months? Either instance could explain May's behavior, which kept popping back into Tracey's thoughts.

He noticed Gary pause a few yards away and hurried to catch up while Gary waited patiently for him with an unreadable expression. Their exchange seemed to have cheered Gary up a bit as his eyes held a touch of mirth although the rest of his expression was entirely impassive.

"So, which is it?" Tracey asked when he reached the other boy. "School or a plan?"

A small smirk curved Gary's lips as he took Tracey's hand again. This wasn't part of the original plan but if Tracey was going to go along with this…

"You tell me," he replied simply. He had to force down a grin when Tracey rolled his eyes at this response - the older boy should have known that Gary would have thrown his word chose from earlier back at him, after all, it was something Gary often did just to annoy him.

Tracey studied his expression for a moment, taking in the playful but apprehensive gleam in his eyes, before scanning his boyfriend's body language for any clues. A brief moment of thought reminded him that thoughts of school very rarely made Gary stressed or tense in any way, yet the way he was crossing his arms rather tightly across his chest showed that he was quite tense. "You're planning something," Tracey said softly. Gary nodded slightly in response but said nothing. "Are you going to elaborate on that at all?"

"Eventually." Gary shot him a grin that only confused Tracey further.

"What is with you today, Gary?" Tracey finally asked in exasperation.

Instead of replying verbally, Gary gave him another playful shove that Tracey countered heartily and in no time the two boys were pushing each other in the sand and laughing. Suddenly Tracey found himself pinned down with Gary leaning over him, a mischievous grin curving his lips as he gazed down at him. Slowly, the grin faded into a slight smile of content while his eyes softened considerably. It was a transition Tracey had seen many times and would never grow tired of seeing; the words that nearly always followed it always warmed him to the core. A second later Gary leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Tracey's lips, their noses brushing as he pulled away.

"I love you," Gary whispered softly.

Tracey laughed softly – he knew that was coming. "I love you too," he whispered back, sitting up just enough to kiss Gary again. A small sigh escaped him as the kiss was swiftly deepened and he tangled his fingered in Gary's hair, grasping the brunette strands when his younger lover tried to pull away a minute later. "Going to tell me what your plan is?"

Rather than giving him an answer, Gary leaned down and began pressing kisses against his throat, causing Tracey to squirm slightly. He couldn't help but mentally smirk as Tracey groaned softly and grasped his hair more tightly – he knew every possible way to make the other boy melt and this was one of his favorite methods. Finally, he pulled back again, this time moving his mouth to Tracey's ear, speaking lowly in a way that made Tracey shiver slightly. "I had fun with you last night," he murmured.

Tracey squirmed under him, forcing down another groan as he remembered the promiscuous activities of the previous night. "You tend to when we have sex," he muttered in response, trying to ignore the way his body was reacting to their position. He was simply too curious about what this plan of Gary's was to focus too much on how much he was longing for his boyfriend's touch on other places of his body.

"You know… I would love to do that every night," Gary paused, taking the opportunity to nip at Tracey's earlobe, eliciting a noise that sounded very much like a whimper from his boyfriend. He pressed his lips to Tracey's in a quick kiss and pulled away before the older boy could deepen it. "For the rest of my life," he added softly.

Tracey could feel his mind going blank as he felt more kisses being scattered across his skin. "It was that good?" he murmured, his eyes sliding closed in pleasure. A soft laugh reached his ear as Gary pulled away again, causing Tracey to groan in disappointment.

"You completely missed the point, Trace."

Tracey's eyes slowly opened and he gazed up at Gary with a touch of confusion. Slowly, he sat up and Gary moved so that they were sitting across from each other in the sand. Marril took advantage of their distance by jumping into Tracey's arms, squeaking happily as its trainer pet its head absently while trying to decipher what Gary had just said. Once more, the pokemon watcher was stumped by the researcher's behavior.

"Gary… What…?"

Gary shook his head amusedly. He couldn't help it – it was incredibly rare that he managed to bewilder Tracey like this and he happened to love the puzzled expression on his face. He opted to take a moment to take in the adorable expression before pushing on.

"Tracey…" Suddenly, his voice died away, his confidence abandoning him as his eyes lowered to his trembling hands in his lap. What had happened, Gary wondered briefly; his confidence had been there for the past fifteen minutes or so. Why had it suddenly faded? He was distracted for a second as Umbreon sat next to him and nudged his shoulder with her nose, as though telling him to just get it over with; at the same time, Tracey's Furret crawled into his lap, nuzzling his hands sweetly. The close proximity of the two pokemon immediately comforted him and calmed him down enough to lift his gaze and meet Tracey's eyes. "I'm asking you to marry me," he finished quietly.

Tracey froze, his brain momentarily refusing to process what had just happened, and then suddenly, everything made sense. The strange quietness, the nervousness, even the way Gary had been so sweet to him over the past several days; it all fell into place as Gary nervously met his eyes and bit his lip, eagerly awaiting the answer. Not trusting his voice, Tracey cupped Gary's face in his hands and kissed him fiercely, hoping that his answer would be obvious enough.

The response must have been apparent because Gary was grinning when they separated and Tracey couldn't recall ever seeing him happier.

"_That's_ what you were so nervous about?" Tracey asked teasingly. He laughed softly when Gary nodded his head a bit sheepishly. "How could I possibly say 'no' to you? Even though you didn't even get me a ring," he added with a playful glare followed by a pout for good measure.

"Actually," Gary began slowly, reaching into his pocket to pull out the bracelet he had placed there. "I did make you something…" Tracey smiled shyly, muttering something about having been joking when he made the ring comment while Gary fastened the sea glass bracelet around his left wrist.

"You spoil me," Tracey said lightly, admiring the piece of jewelry. It was perfect, he decided rather quickly. It seemed to suit him; it was simple but nice. It wasn't girly in the slightest bit, the pieces of sea glass were perfect because of how much he loved the ocean, and the two pieces were both of their favorite colors. Not to mention it matched the necklace that he still wore constantly.

"And you put up with me, so we're even," Gary countered smoothly, idly adjusting the bracelet.

Tracey glanced up at him and smiled; it was such a typical reply to come from the young man he had fallen in love with. "Are we going to keep this a secret?" he asked. His tone was light, almost teasing, but the question was serious. Of course their relationship was far from a secret by now but he wasn't entirely sure if Gary would want everyone finding out about this step up in their relationship so soon.

"Nah, I don't think May would let us. Besides, I think all of my secrets have been told by now."

They kissed again and Tracey was the first to pull away with a laugh. "Really now? What about your arachnophobia?"

Gary grimaced as his boyfriend wiggled his fingers at him, imitating a spider. If there was one thing Gary was ever picked on for, other than his sexuality by his sister, it was his squeamishness around spiders, even though he profusely denied any phobia. Tracey, of course, always saw through those denials. "Careful, Trace; just because I gave you a bracelet doesn't mean you can pick on me for things like that," he warned good-naturedly.

"No, I guess not," Tracey agreed, shifting Marril off of his lap and scooping Furret out of Gary's lap. He turned his attention back to Gary with a grin as the two pokemon began playing with Venonat and Umbreon. "But it does mean that I can do this," he continued, pushing his boyfriend quite suddenly so that Gary was lying on his back in the sand. Without giving him any time to be surprised by the unexpected action, Tracey quickly moved forward, straddling his boyfriend's waist to cover his lips with his own in a deeply passionate kiss.

Several moments passed while the pokemon played in the sand, seeming to ignore the way their trainers were kissing nearly frantically only a few feet away from them. Noticing that Gary's hands were coming dangerously close to the zip of his shorts, Tracey pulled away breathlessly.

"We should finish this at home before we get caught by one of your friends," he intoned softly.

Gary groaned but sat up with a small nod. "Think we have enough time before dinner for a quickie?" he asked cheekily, glancing at his watch for the time.

Tracey laughed as he stood and helped his boyfriend to his feet. "Of course we have enough time, Gary – we have the rest of our lives for that."

--- --- ---

::Author's Note::

I can't believe it's over! This has been my favorite story to write so far, which is kind of surprising considering it was supposed to be a serious coming-out one-shot but ended up as a full story. Thank you so much, everyone, for your feedback and your patience between updates. I should be continuing _Friends, Rivals, and Lovers_ (the side-story for this one) sometime shortly, the prequel to this one is up and should be updated often. A sequel is in the future but I'm still working on it. : )

I'm hoping to work on a few more Tracey/Gary fics related to this story as well as a few that aren't related to this one. Hopefully a few more Palletshippy fics are in the future as well!

Once again, thanks!

~MetalPrincess13


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